Military fans visit the 9th China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai ,Guangdong Province in November, 2012. Photo: CFP

Military enthusiasts may find themselves caught up in real life danger, as their online activities have reportedly become one major way for overseas intelligence agencies.

State security department in Guangdong Province said on May 4 that a resident surnamed Li from Sichuan Province was sentenced to 10 years'imprisonment for releasing military secrets to an overseas intelligence agent, People's Daily reported.

The intelligence agent, named "Fei Ge," which means "Brother Fei," reportedly contacted Li via the QQ instant messenger service and offered 3,000 yuan ($481) monthly payment for information.

Li was then asked to subscribe to internal military publications that could only be reached by Chinese mainland citizens and helped monitor military bases and equipment, which do not allow foreigners to visit.

"Fei Ge" has reportedly recruited 12 people in Guangdong and altogether 40 people in more than 20 cities and regions in the past seven years, as he contacted Net users on military online forums.

However, military fans are not the only prey targeted by intelligence agents.

Students are another group of easy targets that can easily fall into the trap due to a lack of education on national security protection in China.

Innocent and reckless

Some 30 similar cases have been investigated by State security departments in over 10 provincial regions since 2012, all of which were found to have connection with overseas intelligence agencies.

An anonymous insider told the Global Times that information tip-off cases in school campus are on the rise in recent years. "Even minors were involved."

In 2011, a 16-year-old high school student surnamed Zhang violated the law by giving away government documents to overseas intelligence agencies and helping send classified materials between spies.

Zhang has previously lied online about being a military school graduate and he was then offered $400 in exchange for restricted documents.

When the made-up materials of military exercise could not be accepted by the spies, Zhang again claimed that he worked with the education bureau and stole official documents from his school.

The student also helped pass on classified documents from some officials who had been subverted by overseas intelligent agencies.

A total of 200,000 yuan had been offered to Zhang by the time he was arrested.

In other cases, students from specific majors such as aerospace and aviation can also be incited by spies.

Those students will be paid to do researches on internal academic journals, photographs on shipyards and vessels.

"It is abominable for overseas espionage to use innocent youth to pass on intelligence, which is blatantly against the law," said a State security officer who refused to be named.

The officer told the Global Times that students involved in those cases often have limited access to classified information and most of them would not realize the hazards of what they had done even when they were called in by the police.

Usually, students who plead guilty and repent would be given a warning and educated.

Their connections with overseas espionage would be called off immediately, instead attempting to turn them as double agents.

Official spies

In comparison with those students stealing or collecting limited information, intelligence agencies are also keen to put potential at key posts for more useful intelligence.

Song Fei, a university graduate in Zhejiang Province, received a job offer in 2012 from an agent named Li Hua from a market research company. Song's main job was to help collect materials on central government policy studies, which would pay him up to 50,000 yuan in January 2013.

Song was then assigned to conduct research on 10 programs, including Central Economic Working Conference and Central Conference on Rural work.

He also studied China's industry restructuring as well as energy industry development. Several study reports were handed to Li after materials were collected from libraries and databases.

Meanwhile, Li also encouraged Song to expand his social relationships and probe information from scholars and think tanks with government background, while all money spent on establishing closer relationship would be paid by the company.

In 2013, Song got full support from the company when he applied for civil servant examinations by offering a 3,000 yuan subsidy every month.

It also offered guidance in position application.

Instead of grass-roots level official posts that would be valueless, the company suggested Song to apply for positions at provincial level or at research institutions.

Song confessed after he was taken away for investigation that he knew he would be asked for more classified information once he got the job.

"After the student becomes addicted to some instant interests, he/she would then be sent for more specific and classified information.

"Resisting ones may be threatened to be reported to the police or State security departments.

"The career development path of those student-intelligence agents will surely be affected," a State security official told the Global Times.

'Secrets' online

Zha Youyin, a military history writer, told the Global Times that seemingly normal information, such as photos of military infrastructure and weapons, actually contains many useful details that could be used against a nation in time of war.

"An experienced agent can easily use the scale of a factory, the degree of wear on the weapon or the location to deduct the military capacity of our nation.

This is why one should neither take any photos near military infrastructure nor post everything online carelessly.

Intelligence agents are there watching us. As much as espionage is a global practice, one must protect the national security of his/her motherland," Zha said.

However, those "secrets" are easily found on some popular Chinese military online forums, such as top81.cn and tiexue.net, where military fans closely follow the nation's military development.

For more than two years, the forums carried "insider leaks" and photos showing the navy's "secret" Class 055 guided-missile destroyer.

In 2010, some Net user uploaded photos of a prototype of the J-20 stealth fighter jet, which was not expected to be in use for several more years, while military enthusiasts shared photos on Weibo recently after the discovery of a new type of intelligence aircraft, reported the South China Morning Post.

Zha added that military-related journals available for subscription in the mainland may not be accessible from the rest of the world, which makes them another target of intelligence agencies.