Stranger danger: Lithuanian ad campaign warns of friendly spies (VIDEOS)
Lithuania's State Security Department have created a new ad campaign warning of the potential dark side of seemingly normal conversations with friendly strangers.
“It all started during that conference where my presentation received quite some backlash,” a young man tells the camera in one of the three ads highlighting “hostile foreign intelligence.”
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The student is plied with alcohol and quickly grows fond of the kind stranger – but begins to doubt his new companion’s intentions when the man asks him if he wants to take part in a “prestigious course”.
Another ad centers on a single mother meeting a man who appears to share her interest in arthouse cinema. The pair quickly form a bond and the man gives her a USB stick purportedly with a film on it, which he suggests she use on her work computer.
Her boss later tells her something from her computer was transmitting everything from their network to a foreign country.
A third ad features the story of a business owner who meets a potential client, the pair strike up a relationship and the man helps him with visa paperwork. But before long he starts to ask questions about things in which he shouldn't be interested, particularly a government facility, on the border.
“You could become a target for hostile foreign intelligence,” the ads warn, “Don't make guesses. Seek advice.”
The head Lithuania's State Security Department, Darius Jauniskis, told Reuters that each of the ads is based on a true story. "People don't even think that information is being squeezed out of them until it's too late," he said.
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