This is a very interesting case of how a virtual identity can be constructed to gain the confidence (and with that real sensitive information) of other people:
Funny thing this made me recall an early Masamune Shiro manga, Black Magic. In the commentary for one of the volumes he rationalises the fact that all combat androids have female-looking bodies, by speculating that male soldiers would tend to underestimate their potential threat. Of course the real reason was that otaku find female killer-droids "hot", but it seems he was right after all – if only in a social engineering context.
