Halt, This Is Recruitment! How To Distinguish a Friend from a Manipulator or a Criminal in a Chat Room?
There are provocateurs on social networks and instant messengers who can lure you into serious crimes. Here are some tips on how to avoid being targeted and how to recognize their techniques.
Most recruiters are skillful psychologists and have been trained in techniques and methods to influence you.
Their main tools for recruiting you into illegal organizations are social media and popular messengers.
How to Recognize a Recruiter in a "New Acquaintance":
- He or she is going to correspond with you in a friendly way,
- He or she is going to praise and compliment you, support you and show that they care about you,
- He or she is going to be interested in your personality and life problems,
- He or she is going to persuade you to join some kind of a "Secret Community" and convince you that you are the chosen one.
When the recruiter starts communicating with you, they are going to assess your strengths and weaknesses, looking for the topics that concern you most. They will try to gain your trust and interest.
The recruiter will offer you money, especially if you really need it. They will know this in advance from the open groups and chat rooms where you are actively communicating.
The recruiter may offer you money for certain actions that have no ideological background, such as throwing a burning bottle into a state building, carrying prohibited parts of explosives, etc.
If the recruiter fails to persuade you to commit crimes on an ideological basis or for money, they may try to intimidate you with your "leaked" photos and correspondence.
To avoid attracting the attention of online recruiters:
- Do not post information about where you live, study or work, do not share your personal details and those of your parents and relatives in social networks and messengers.
- Limit access to personal photos and records, allowing that only to people you know well.
- Do not correspond with strangers, especially be wary of those who show excessive activity and interest in you and offer an easy and quick way of earning money in a short time.
- Do not send photos of your documents, nor record or send video messages at the other person's request.
- Respond negatively to any offer of easy money or a solution to your problems and end this conversation.
- Blacklist the person you have been talking to and inform your parents about what has happened.