They say they have manipulated 33 elections around the world. Successfully, in 27 of these cases.

Their code name is Team Jorge and their guide is Tal Hanan: 50 years old, a former special forces agent from Tel Aviv. They are Israeli hackers, but in Israel, legally, they do not exist. They offer customers all over the world very special services: cyber attacks, spread of fake news and disinformation, control of the communications of political leaders and their assistants, hacking of emails, espionage, identity replacements, targeted campaigns on social networks.

All this, of course, for a fee: at the service of those who want to secretly influence the outcome of political elections, referendums and other democratic processes.

This is what emerges from an international investigation that lasted months, coordinated by the investigative collective French "Forbidden Stories", which brings together 30 newspapers from various countries, including Radio France, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, El Pais, Le Monde.

The journalists posed as potential customers and contacted Team Jorge. The Israeli group has therefore shown them its capabilities: hacking Google accounts, spying and manipulating communication software even if encrypted, withdrawing bank documents, activating an army of "avatars" on social networks. It may be to brag, but Jorge claims to have "intervened in 33 electoral campaigns at the presidential level". Of these, 27 would have been "a success". In Europe, the company reportedly intervened in the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, which was not recognized by the Spanish government. Among the operations claimed: in Kenya on presidential elections, in Indonesia on an electoral commission, in California on unspecified activities.

"They have wreaked havoc in democracies around the world," writes the Haaretz group's Israeli business daily The Marker.

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Tal Hanan

The group says it uses software to spread disinformation through fake social profiles: it's called Aims, which stands for Advanced Impact Media Solutions, and is owned by Team Jorge itself. It would be sold to "intelligence firms, political parties and private companies" in Africa, South and Central America, the United States and Europe. The software creates and checks fake profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Telegram, Gmail, Instagram and YouTube. Virtual profiles not easily unmasked, if it is true that the "avatars" have an Amazon account, credit cards and cryptocurrency wallets: each has its own "personal" digital history and imitates human behavior thanks to the use of artificial intelligence.

But the tactics used by the team are multiple and adapt to the circumstances. In one case, the group allegedly "sent a sex toy via Amazon to a politician's home, with the aim of giving his wife the false impression that she was having an affair."

All this information was gathered in particular by three investigative journalists, from Radio France, Haaretz and The Marker, who pretended to be consultants in the service of an entity that wanted to postpone the elections in "a politically unstable African country". The three met Team Jorge between July and December 2022, both online and in person in an office about 30 kilometers from Tel Aviv. And they filmed the meetings.
During which Tal Hanan said he operates from 6 offices in different places around the world, through operators with experience in government agencies and experts in finance, social media and "psychological warfare". Describing herself to (fake) potential clients, Hanan said: "Right now we are involved in an election in Africa, we have an operational team in Greece and one in the Emirates." He added that he was working on two "projects" in the United States, but without direct involvement in American politics.

And again. "I know that in some countries it is believed that Telegram is safe - I'll show you", and then proceeds to send messages from the account of a high-level Kenyan political adviser: "I'm not just spying," says Hanan, while explaining how to wreak havoc in a candidate's election campaign.

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Revealed: The hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections

The statements of Team Jorge remain at the moment as such: without the possibility of factual verification. Hanan may have "embellished" her resume to secure a lucrative deal. Because its services are not free of charge: to interfere in electoral processes, the request is between 6 and 15 million euros, to be paid through a range of means and currencies that includes cryptocurrencies.

However, documents cited by the Guardian describe more modest fees: for example, $160,8 demanded from the former British group Cambridge Analytica - already involved in a series of scandals over the management of unduly stolen private information - for an <>-week campaign in a Latin American country.