Israel's internal intelligence agency, the Shin Bet, has told citizens to be careful when using Facebook,  warning Arabs are using the site to recruit spies.

It says there have been several incidents of violent groups trying to recruit Israelis through Facebook and other social networking sites. In one case, an Israeli was contacted by a man who identified himself as a Lebanese agent who offered him money in exchange for information.

The Shin Bet also says Israelis should be wary of posting some types of personal information on Facebook, and that they should stay away from arranged meetings and dates, as militants could be using them as bait to kidnap or kill them.

"Terror organisations are using these sites to tempt Israelis to meet up in person in order to either abduct them, kill them or recruit them as spies," the Shin Bet said.  "Facebook is open to any person, group or business that wants to sign up for an account. It does prohibit content that is hateful or threatening, and users are barred from doing "anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory."

Recently, the Shin Bet has interrogated and sent to trial a number of Israelis who were recruited as spies via the internet.

More here.