Dating Apps Expose Hidden Bases

Close-up of gloved hands typing on a laptop keyboard in a dark setting

Ukrainian civilians are using fake dating profiles to trick Russian soldiers into revealing their exact locations — and the intel is being used to call in strikes.

Story Snapshot

Ukrainian fighters and ordinary citizens are posing as women on Tinder and Telegram to get Russian soldiers to share their locations.
One Ukrainian woman reportedly contacted over 70 Russian soldiers using two fake profiles, then passed their locations to Ukrainian intelligence.
Fake Telegram profiles were used to lure Russian soldiers near Melitopol into sharing photos, helping pinpoint a hidden military base that was later attacked.
Ukraine also launched a dating app feature called “e-Enemy” so civilians can report Russian troop movements directly to the military.

Fake Profiles, Real Targets

Ukrainian fighters have turned dating apps into spy tools. Reports say one Ukrainian woman created two fake Tinder profiles and listed herself at two different locations near the front lines. Russian soldiers who matched with both profiles without realizing it gave away their own position. By comparing the two matches, she was able to pinpoint the locations of more than 70 Russian soldiers and hand that data to Ukrainian intelligence. ^[1]

The tactic goes beyond Tinder. Ukrainian operatives also used fake, attractive woman profiles on Telegram to convince Russian soldiers near Melitopol to share photos of themselves on duty. Those photos contained enough detail to locate a hidden Russian military base. Days after the intelligence was passed along, that base was attacked. ^[3] These are not high-tech hacks. They are old-fashioned deception, updated for the smartphone age.

Cold War Playbook, Modern Battlefield

The approach draws from a long history of spy tradecraft. According to a report by Ken Harbaugh in The Atlantic, Ukrainian resistance fighters have been passing around a Cold War-era manual on catfishing tactics — originally used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Africa — as a how-to guide. ^[1] These fighters lack formal training, but the manual gives them a proven framework. Social engineering, which means tricking people rather than hacking computers, has long been one of the most effective tools in espionage. It targets human weakness, not software flaws.

Ukraine also built this idea into a civilian tool. The country’s government encouraged citizens to use a feature in its “Diia” app called “e-Enemy” to report Russian troop movements they observe. Ordinary people became a network of eyes feeding real-time intelligence to the military. ^[3] It is a grassroots approach to wartime intelligence that requires almost no technical skill — just a phone and awareness of what is happening nearby.

Russia Is Playing the Same Game

Russia is not sitting still. Ukraine’s police chief Ivan Vyhivskyi accused Russia of running its own honey-trap operation — recruiting teenage Ukrainian girls through Telegram to carry out contract killings of Ukrainian soldiers. ^[7] Both sides are using social media as a weapon. The difference is Ukraine appears to be using it to gather targeting data, while Russia is allegedly using it to recruit assassins from within Ukraine’s own population.

It is worth noting that none of the specific Ukrainian operations have been confirmed by official Ukrainian military or intelligence sources. The Ukrainian Security Service and military intelligence have stayed quiet, likely because these operations are classified. All the reporting comes from Western media and military analysis outlets. That does not make the claims false, but readers should know the full picture has not been verified through official channels. The core tactics described, however, match well-documented methods used in modern cyber espionage worldwide. ^[3]

What This Tells Us About Modern War

The Ukraine conflict has become a live test of what low-cost, high-impact intelligence looks like in the 21st century. No spy satellites or billion-dollar systems needed — just a fake profile and a willing soldier who wants to talk to a pretty woman. It is a reminder that human nature remains the biggest vulnerability in any military. Soldiers who overshare online become targets. The lesson applies far beyond Ukraine. Any nation’s troops, including American service members, can fall into the same trap if they are not trained to guard what they post and share.