According to The Mail on Sunday, sources within the air force have confirmed that the audacious scam had resulted in information being passed on to an as-yet unidentified third party.

The agent is said to have hacked into the dating profile of an RAF airwoman to fool several servicemen - and it is known to have been successful on at least one of them.

In an internal memo obtained by the newspaper, the air force's principal security adviser warned about the risk of "online social engineering" and "online reconnaissance against social media profiles".

The note said servicemen could be targeted by "skilled and convincing operatives" aiming to gather confidential information through "friendship, sympathy and/or obligation".

While it is not known who was responsible, the memo notes that UK military policy and capabilities are "significant targets of interest for hostile state and non-state actors".