Security agencies have cautioned that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is using a more deceptive espionage method in which fake communication channels are made to look like they belong to senior Indian Army and police officers. According to the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the purpose is to catch junior personnel off guard and obtain sensitive details by manufacturing urgency.
The alert came after Army Intelligence, working with the police, arrested a husband-and-wife couple from Kalu Wala village in Ferozepur district, Punjab, described as the last village along the India-Pakistan international border. Investigators say the pair was linked to an ISI-backed network that passed on highly sensitive information about Indian Army establishments, including maps of military locations, weapons and ammunition depots, cantonment areas, troop movements, deployments in border areas, and details of military preparedness and security arrangements. A case has been registered under Sections 3 and 4 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and several mobile phones have been seized for examination. Officials are also looking for possible links to handlers operating from Pakistan and Malaysia.
Investigations further indicate that the woman in the couple allegedly posed as a police officer and used social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat to approach Army personnel. She is suspected of trying to build relationships as part of a honey-trap operation aimed at drawing out confidential information. The couple is also reported to have shared border-related classified information with Pakistan-based smugglers.
What the IB says about the tactic
An IB official said honey-trapping has long been part of ISI methods, but the increasing use of impersonation has created a new concern. In the latest pattern, recruited individuals set up communication channels that appear to belong to high-ranking police or Army officers. These channels are not used immediately. Instead, they are watched for some time to identify junior officers who may be easier to pressure or deceive.
After remaining inactive for a period, such channels are then used to send messages that create an artificial emergency. The aim, according to the official, is to make the recipient act quickly without checking whether the message source is genuine.
“When an artificial emergency is created, the junior officer tends to pass on information almost urgently. The officer tends to prioritise the urgency rather than cross-checking whether the communication channel is genuine or not,” an official explained.
In some cases, such messages have reportedly pushed lower-ranking personnel to bypass established procedures or allow access to unauthorised networks while transmitting sensitive information. Once the needed data is collected, the forged channel is shut down at once.
Officials say the short life span of these impersonation networks makes them difficult to track, because a channel may be used for only one operation before being dismantled and replaced. Investigators have described this as a “fresh challenge.”
Shift after Operation Sindoor
Security assessments suggest the change in ISI tactics has become more noticeable since Operation Sindoor in May 2025, which was launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. During and after that operation, India demonstrated military strength while also gaining an intelligence edge. Several ISI modules and honey-trap networks were dismantled, and Pakistan has reportedly struggled to revive many proxies or sustain infiltrations.
According to these assessments, those setbacks appear to have pushed the ISI to adopt short-lived impersonation networks that can gather as much information as possible about the Indian armed forces before disappearing.
Security agencies are continuing to examine the full extent of the Ferozepur network and whether related modules are active elsewhere. The development has again underlined the need for Army and police personnel to verify urgent communications carefully, especially when such messages claim to come from senior officers and arrive in border areas.
