Two Israeli brothers accused of spying for Iran say they misled handler with fake AI 'information'

Two brothers from the Jerusalem area have been charged with serious security offenses, including contact with a foreign agent and passing information to the enemy, even though the information they provided was fabricated using AI.

The Israeli State Attorney's Office filed an indictment several weeks ago against the two brothers – one from Beitar Illit and the other from Beit Shemesh – on charges of conducting espionage on behalf of Iranian agents, according to details released after a court-imposed gag order was lifted.

According to the indictment, their contact with the Iranian agent began in August 2025 and continued for several months. When offered payment in exchange for information, the main defendant agreed, using a false name and claiming to be a computer science student about to enlist in IDF Unit 8200, responsible for signals intelligence and communications analysis, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Because the main defendant and his brother claimed that they set out to trick the Iranian agents by deliberately providing false information, their lawyer defended their actions, stating that they should be rewarded rather than punished and labeling the indictment as “outrageous.”

The men, both in their 20s, reportedly communicated with Iranian agents using the private messaging platform Telegram, which has been used for similar exchanges in the past, creating a group with an imaginary soldier invented by the main defendant.

In their group chat, the Iranian contact (identified as "David") began messaging the "soldier," whose Telegram account also belonged to the main defendant. The agent requested to see the soldier’s ID card before proceeding, at which point the defendant sent a video of an unspecified Israeli citizen, together with his driving license, to the agent. Eventually, the agent was satisfied and the communication continued.

The indictment includes allegations of impersonating others, including posing as soldiers in a military intelligence unit. One of the brothers told David he had a contact in the unit and offered to connect them in exchange for payment, according to Ynet News.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the suspects deceived their Iranian handler by creating false impressions and providing misleading information. For example, they fabricated a planned Israeli-U.S. attack in Iran, including a list of strategic locations in Iran that they found using AI and Google Maps.

Their lawyer asserted that they were working in Israel’s interests rather than for the benefit of the Iranian regime, saying,

"As seen in the indictment materials, these are two patriotic Zionist brothers who sought to trick the Iranians. The Jewish mind is known for inventing patents, and as loyal sons of the start-up nation, they sold fabricated information to the Iranians using ChatGPT in exchange for money," their lawyer argued.

"Their intention was to harm and deceive the Iranian enemy, and they succeeded in doing so. Instead of filing an indictment in this unnecessary case, the state should award them the Israel Prize for their contribution to the nation's security," he added.

The brothers provided the fake information in exchange for the equivalent of NIS 100,000 ($US32,000) in cryptocurrency.

The Islamic Republic has been using digital assets to support covert operations abroad for some time, according to the 2023 Illicit Crypto Ecosystem Report from TRM Labs, a company delivering blockchain intelligence to detect crypto-facilitated crime. 

News of the indictment was released a week after an Iron Dome operator was found to have been passing information to the regime in Iran, also reportedly in exchange for payment in cryptocurrency.