PETER SAGAL, HOST:
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Reza, the Syrian Government recently acquired the opposition rebel force's battle plans and other valuable information through some sophisticated spy craft. Namely what did the Syrian Government do?
REZA ASLAN: and if only we had an expert on the Middle East to answer this question.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: I'll give you a hint. Hello, I am Cindy. I am 25 and I want to meet rebel leaders in your area.
ASLAN: Oh, nice, nice. So they've pretended to be hot Russian wives looking for gorgeous husband with lots of chest hair.
SAGAL: Something like that. The Syrian government or espionage agencies pretended to be sexy ladies online.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
SAGAL: So you're a rebel in Syria taking a break from battling the tyrannical government by chatting with girls online via Skype or their favorite site - dating site - anything but JDate
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: And they get all friendly. And the rebel - the lonely rebel asks the girl to send a picture. And when the picture arrives, it carried malware that stole all the battle plans and other information from the rebel's phone.
PAULA POUNDSTONE: Wow. Oh my gosh.
SAGAL: Isn't that clever?
POUNDSTONE: Very clever.
SAGAL: It's like a modern version of the Trojan Horse except these guys wanted to get lucky with the horse.
(LAUGHTER)
MAZ JOBRANI: Like - and they have time for this?
POUNDSTONE: Yeah, it seems weird. It seems like a strange, you know, double life to lead.
ASLAN: You know, I got to tell you. The thing that people don't know about Jihad is it's a lot of sitting around.
SAGAL: Really?
ASLAN: It's sitting around and waiting.
SAGAL: It's like being on a movie set.
ASLAN: Yeah, exactly.
SAGAL: It's like where are the jihadists? Oh, they had a union mandated break.
JOBRANI: They're at craft services getting snacks.
SAGAL: Yeah. The worst part of this story is that some of the rebels - you got to feel sorry for them. They're still hopeful. You know, like sure, she stole my coordinates and then shelled me, but I really felt a connection. I think I still have a chance.Coming up, there ain't no mom like a soccer mom. It's our Bluff the Listener Game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play. We'll be back in a minute with more of WAIT WAIT ...DON'T TELL ME from NPR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.