Three Israeli citizens were arrested over the past two weeks on suspicion of carrying out various tasks and operations under the direction of Iranian intelligence agents in return for payment, the Shin Bet and police announced on Tuesday.

The operations included stashing money in different locations and posting anti-Israel signs in Tel Aviv, although requests to commit arson and murder by Iranian agents were refused.

The activities of the three citizens were uncovered through counter-intelligence operations by the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service and the Israel Police’s National Unit for International Investigations in the 433 major crimes department.

The investigation uncovered “an infrastructure of Iranian intelligence agents” who worked “under the guise of foreign agencies” to recruit Israelis to carry out a variety of different operations in the country in recent months.

This led to the arrest of three suspects, and the filing of an indictment against one of them on Tuesday.

The man indicted, a 21-year old from Beit Shemesh by the name of Elimelech Stern, was in touch with a profile on the Telegram messaging app by the name of Anna Elena who asked him to carry out various task, including hanging signs in Tel Aviv, hiding money in various places in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, delivering packages to the doorsteps of Israeli civilians containing a severed head of an animal or a doll next to a knife and a threatening message, setting fire to a forest and more.

Investigators said that Stern agreed to carry out the activities as asked, with the exception of committing murder and setting a forest fire.

Stern was paid in cryptocurrency in return for carrying out these missions.

The Shin Bet and police released screenshots of correspondence between one of the suspects and an Iranian agent who, writing in poor English, promised rewards of between $100 and $100,000, depending on the mission.

One of the missions detailed in the text message chain involved buying jerrycans and filling them with gasoline, although the ultimate purpose was not revealed in the text messages provided by the police.

The reward for carrying out that mission was $7,000.

Stern was charged in Jerusalem District Court with contact with a foreign agent. The other two suspects, who were recruited by Stern, were questioned and subsequently released pending a decision on whether to indict them.

According to a Channel 12 report, Stern said that in a Telegram group with hundreds of members that discussed economic and cryptocurrency issues in which he was interested, he was contacted by someone who presented themselves as a female left-wing activist.

“In return I got about few hundred shekels from her, and only after being arrested did I realize that this woman was an Iranian agent hostile to Israel,” Stern told his associates.

The method of contacting Israeli citizens through social networks by using fake accounts “is a well-known modus operandi of the Iranian intelligence agencies,” the Shin Bet and Israel Police said in a joint statement announcing the indictment and arrests.

“In recent months, many fictitious profiles used by the Iranian security forces have been located and monitored, and a great deal of information has been collected about the agents behind their operation,” the two law enforcement agencies added.

They also stated that along with using social media platforms such as Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook and X, the Iranian agents also sought to gain cooperation from Israeli citizens through websites offering money for casual jobs.

A “significant portion” of citizens who received suspicious messages and requests did not respond to them and some even warned the authorities.

A senior source added that it was recommended that the general public be aware of such schemes and refrain from passing on their personal details if asked by someone they were unfamiliar with, and from opening links from sources they don’t know.