The term sounds like a spy film. The method is nonetheless real, and it is old: a person is bound, through affection, admiration or an affair, to someone with an interest in what they know. What follows is rarely passion. It is dependency.
What is documented
China's authority for the protection of state secrets has publicly warned its own defence industry about honeytraps set by foreign services. In the case it published, a project manager on a business trip was approached by a supposed business representative at deliberately arranged social events. An affair with a woman from that circle followed, then the threat to expose it, and finally the handover of state secrets.
In the United Kingdom, six members of a spy ring working for Russia were sentenced in May 2025. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, the group also considered using one of its female members in a honeytrap against a journalist.
When a state warns its own staff about a method, that is a reliable sign the method is in use.
How it typically unfolds
- An encounter that seems accidental: on a trip, in a hotel bar, at a conference, online.
- Unusual attention, admiration and understanding, often at a time in life when exactly that is missing.
- Rapid closeness and a wish for discretion, supposedly to protect the other person.
- Later a favour, a piece of information, a contact. Or the threat to expose the relationship.
Why it works
Not because people are naive. Recognition and closeness are basic needs, and people in exposed positions often go without them. The real lever is then not the relationship itself but shame. Someone who believes they can no longer speak without losing everything can be blackmailed.
What protects
- Knowing the pattern before meeting it. Those who know what such an approach looks like recognise it earlier.
- Honesty about one's own situation: loneliness, grievance and dissatisfaction are normal, but they are points of attack.
- A confidential contact with whom even uncomfortable matters can be discussed before they become leverage.
- A company culture in which a mistake can be reported without putting one's livelihood at stake.
The most effective countermeasure is early openness. A secret that has already been shared no longer works as leverage.
Further reading: Crown Prosecution Service, May 2025 · South China Morning Post
