A fake website and a deluge of CVs: the Australian firm embroiled in an FBI probe into alleged Chinese espionage

Exclusive: Fake consultancy impersonating Brisbane firm online is one of 13 websites seized by the US Department of Justice Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast When the first emails arrived, they were easily dismissed as spam. But as strangers continued to boast about their defence and security credentials, they became impossible to ignore. From mid-2025, a small Australian consultancy firm called Horizzen started receiving emails and strange calls from people applying for vague jobs in the United States. It would have been an ambitious global expansion for the Brisbane-based firm, which only had a few domestic clients. Except, it wasn’t hiring. Without its knowledge, a fake consultancy firm impersonating Horizzen had been launched online. It claimed to be an “architect of influence” and was overseeing a recruitment blitz for experts in defence, trade and politics. “It was using our company name, business address, phone number and content, but with a different design,” a Horizzen spokesperson said. “At first, I dismissed it as a cheap knock-off.” Some determined jobseekers, eager to impress, also sent th