What word describes a person who gains the trust of people on behalf of an adversary?

Question

What word or idiom describes a person who gains the trust of people in an organization to identify potential threats to that organization?

Example:

Say Company (Organisation) "A" wants to know how many of its employees are inclined to take part in or form unions.

• Company A then sends its own person Mr "M" to locate such employees.
• Mr M then starts his own Workers’ Union and performs activities and gives speeches against the interest of Company A.
• All this is done to gain the trust of the employees (of Company A).
• Company A not surprisingly is silent & passive about Mr M.

Mr M's union grows in size as employees seeing his actions and hearing his words fall for the snare and join his Union, hoping to fight against Company A.

Company A now possesses a list of persons that are a threat to it.

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1. What do you call Mr M?
2. What are the actions & activities of Mr M called?

Answer 1

Such a person is often called a mole because they burrow into an organization to gain information. From the Oxford Dictionaries:

mole

NOUN

1. A small burrowing mammal with dark velvety fur, a long muzzle, and very small eyes, feeding mainly on worms, grubs, and other invertebrates.

2. A spy who gradually achieves an important position within the security defences of a country.

   ‘a well-placed mole was feeding them the names of operatives’

   2.1 Someone within an organization who anonymously betrays confidential information.

   ‘the company is hunting for the mole who revealed details of planned job cuts’

They could also be called a spy or a plant (See definition #3).

As to what you would call the mole's activites, he is engaged in subterfuge. From the Oxford Dictionaries:

subterfuge

NOUN

[mass noun]

Deceit used in order to achieve one's goal.

‘he had to use subterfuge and bluff on many occasions’

[count noun] ‘I hated all the subterfuges, I hated lying to you’

Answer 2

labor spy
an agent of an employer hired to report on union activities : stool pigeon

A wider term is:

agent provocateur
A person employed to associate with suspected individuals or groups with the purpose of inciting them to commit acts that will make them liable to punishment.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language

From Wikipedia:

Historically, labor spies, hired to infiltrate, monitor, disrupt, or subvert union activities, have used agent provocateur tactics.

Answer 3

I agree with "mole", but a mole implies someone who is hidden deep within the organization – emphasis on hidden.

An Agent Provocateur infiltrates an organization and gains their trust posing as a member, with the goal of instigating a riot or other criminal activity to discredit the movement. The term comes from 19th Century union organizers so it may be very close to your intent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_provocateur

An agent provocateur might create a competing organization intended to lure members of the actual organization who would be impressed by the provocateur's more aggressive politics and invisible funding, but it's just as likely they make no attempt to recruit at all. Their actions may be quite showy and gain them publicity, even as the actions are useless or contrary to the cause.

A recent example is the hoax called Femen that paid Ukrainian sex workers to protest topless in the name of "feminism", while newspapers gushingly reported on their frivolous stunts which were inherently anti-feminist. The group was later exposed to have a male leader with mysterious backing. A red flag was that actual feminists were excluded, along with women who were over 25 because they would not be "pretty" enough. Somehow newspapers conveniently forgot that feminists are against sexual exploitation or devaluing women based on male-gaze appeal, but hey, boobies.

Answer 4

An "undercover agent" comes to mind.

• "a secret agent hired by a state to obtain information about its enemies or by a business to obtain industrial secrets from competitors."
  TFD

or "an infiltrator"

• "someone who takes up a position surreptitiously for the purpose of espionage"
  TFD

Answer 5

1) Mr. "M" is a Judas goat. A Judas goat is a goat trained to lead other goats calmly to the slaughterhouse. The trick works because goats are herd animals and they will blythely, quietly follow one who shows leadership. The Judas goat (so named for the betrayal of Jesus by Judas) does not suffer the fate of the others because he has performed his job for the butchers. Wikipedia backs me up at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_goat