Recruiting prostitutes to steal secrets worth millions from businessmen and government officials is a fairly widespread practice in countries like China and Russia, former Canadian diplomat Brian McAdam warned at the Canadian Industrial Security Conference in Gatineau on Wednesday. And Canadians traveling abroad, he added, have so far been “as babes in the woods”–hardly aware of being targets. “Sexpionage is far more effective than any technological surveillance by satellite or anything else,” said McAdam. Spies often approach the men via social networks, to “get to know their targets” and gain their trust, he added, according to Postmedia News. In September, Conservative MP Bob Dechert made headlines when a romantic email exchange between him and a reporter at the Chinese state news agency Xinhua became public.