Fire adjuster disguised as a secret shopper. Russian spies have invented a new way to recruit Ukrainians. And the latter may not guess that they are working for the enemy

Ukrainian blogger Leila Lozova told on her Instagram page how the Russian Federation recruits fire calibrators in Ukraine via Telegram, and how they tried to kidnap her.

She saw a job offer in one of the local forums. The employer was supposedly looking for inspectors of public catering establishments. «We are looking for responsible and attentive…», the ad said.

Salary — from 10,000 UAH per week. Apparently, it was necessary to check cleanliness, quality of service, speed, availability of menus and price tags. Free schedule. No work experience.

So she started questioning the «employer,» who signed herself as Alina. She was immediately warned that the candidate must have the ability to travel on business trips to inspect catering establishments. And also to take photos.

They provide step-by-step instructions, money for test purchases, and require detailed reports.

Payment to a crypto wallet. The work is unofficial. That is, the employee does not know who is transferring the money to him. The blogger asked if it was necessary to take photos and videos of the area where the establishment is located. She was confirmed. And everything became clear — this is not the work of a mister shopper.

Leila urges her followers to be more careful with the photos they post online, as they may feature critical infrastructure. And even more so, to be careful with geotags.

It turned out that Leila was not the only one who was offered a similar job on the Internet.

1. «I was offered to take pictures of shop windows. And then suddenly: 'There’s a job for you! We need to go take pictures of the warehouse,'» writes one of the video commentators.
2. «I’ve seen similar ads: photo reports about new buildings and construction, several locations in Kyiv and the region every day. Of course, the website where the photos are posted is not specified. And the salary is high,» writes another commentator.
3. «A 'sincere Ukrainian girl', Mariana, wrote to me, offering to take pictures in a hotel, with a Russian number that was not hidden,» wrote a third commenter.

Thus, job seekers may not even realize that they are working for the enemy, performing the work of a mystery shopper or simply a photographer.