SINGAPORE – A think-tank claiming to be based in Singapore and publishing analytical reports on security issues in Asia has been using what appear to be fabricated employee profiles, in an attempt to glean information from security analysts and those involved in intelligence work.

The Institute of East Asia Strategic Studies (IEASS) had approached individuals in Singapore and Taiwan, among other places, The Straits Times has learnt.

Alarm bells about IEASS were first raised by Bill Hayton, an associate fellow at British think-tank Chatham House.

In a June 30 post on social network X, he asked whether anyone had heard of the institute, which had been approaching Western security analysts.

Based on ST’s checks, the institute’s listed experts could not be identified through public records or professional databases, and some of their profile pictures appear to have been generated using artificial intelligence (AI).

ST also found no record of the think-tank being registered in Singapore, despite a claim on its website that it was founded in the Republic in 2019.

Of the 12 individuals listed on its website as employees, only three maintained public LinkedIn profiles.

One was the institute’s editor, Chen Qiang, who claimed on his LinkedIn profile to have held the role since August 2018.

His LinkedIn account, set up in December 2023, had no profile picture, and listed Hong Kong’s Lingnan University and the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) as his alma maters.

An MDIS spokeswoman said there were no records of Chen Qiang having been a student or of the programme he claimed to have enrolled in.

The other two individuals with public LinkedIn accounts operated under the names Travis Walker and Viga Oborski.

Both accounts were created in March. Their profile pictures showed young Asian men, but contained visual artefacts around the glasses and ear...