The network used a fake Facebook profile under the name "Sara Puppi," who was presented as a young Jewish woman with connections and business in Israel, according to the agency.
The profile had thousands of friends, mostly Israelis. After a connection was established, conversations would continue over WhatsApp, the Shin Bet says.
According to the Shin Bet, Puppi asked Israelis, including Shin Bet officers, to locate information about Israelis who are of interest to Iranian intelligence, as well as Arab diplomats and businessmen in Israel, in return for thousands of dollars as payment.
The Shin Bet says the operators of the profile also used emotional and romantic manipulation to get the information they were seeking.
In addition, the Iranian operators asked Israelis to place an "inciting" banner on billboards against Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances..., "with the aim of harming Israel-Russia relations," the Shin Bet says
The agency says it had been monitoring the alleged Iranian operation from the start.