A foreign client’s inquiry to private detective Michael McIver was commonplace. A client in Dubai asked him to watch a residence in Brooklyn where he believed a man who owed him money was hiding. McIver was to watch the house and take pictures of residents and visitors. “Try to be careful, because they are careful,” the buyer told him. A few days later, McIver learned from the FBI that his client was not who he claimed to be, but an Iranian intelligence officer who was plotting the kidnapping of an Iranian-American journalist. “We were afraid that she would be kidnapped and taken to Iran to be killed,” the FBI official says.

In recent years, the federal agency has documented several incidents of private detectives acting—usually unwittingly—as “subcontractors” for foreign intelligence agencies. Most immediately began to cooperate with the authorities as soon as they learned the truth. Thus, foreign intelligence agencies hire detectives to obtain detailed information about their “target” such as home addresses, cell phones, social security numbers, and work addresses.

Under the guise of searching for fraudsters, they act as “contractors” of foreign intelligence services.

In the case of an Iranian journalist in Brooklyn, federal prosecutors prosecuted Iranian agents who remain safe in their country. The detective’s Iranian clients in Brooklyn wanted more details about the Iranian refugee’s posture: “Does she seem unconcerned or is she constantly looking around?” they asked.

In 2020, 55-year-old retired police officer and private detective Michael McMann was arrested for pro-Chinese espionage and illegal surveillance. New York prosecutors allege that McMann participated in an attempt to intimidate a Chinese citizen, a permanent resident of New Jersey, into returning to his hometown. McMann says he took on a client in 2016 who told him she was looking for a Chinese citizen who had committed a major financial scam in China. The client introduced himself as the owner of the translation agency and paid by check. The detective followed the houses indicated to him by the client, each time notifying the local police about the surveillance. In October 2020, the FBI arrested McMann and charged him with complicity in a major Chinese intelligence operation codenamed “Fox Hunt” to track down and kidnap a Chinese dissident. The prosecution accuses the detective of continuing to work with the Chinese “client”, despite the fact that he understands that his target was not an abuser, but an opponent of the regime.