Honey traps in modern espionage: How the age-old tactic adapts online

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted to an affair amid reports the woman involved is a suspected Chinese spy, prompting an independent board investigation and renewed focus on honey trap espionage tactics. China dismissed the allegations as groundless. Honey traps use romantic or sexual attraction to gain trust, extract secrets, or enable blackmail, with historical use by Soviet and East German agencies. Notable cases include a Singaporean cypher officer jailed in 1980 and a Taiwanese general sentenced to life in 2011. Modern honey traps increasingly start online via social media or messaging platforms, exploiting digital footprints for profiling. Experts say such operations persist by targeting human vulnerabilities like loneliness or desire, despite evolving methods.