Criminals use AI to extort families of migrants lost at the border

Criminal groups are using artificial intelligence (AI) to manipulate images and steal large amounts of money from families desperately searching for undocumented migrants that were lost on the border between Mexico and USA.

Norma Ramos’ family has reported her brother missing for two months when the migrant sought to enter the United States irregularly in search of work.

The last thing his relatives knew about him was that the 30-year-old Mexican had been “left” in the desert, probably in Arizona.

The family contacted the Mexican consulate and the Border Patrol, but these entities have found nothing about him, not even records of him being detained.

In desperation, the relatives turned to social networks, where they found a website that supposedly would help them.

Ramos sent them information about his brother and several photos, and immediately began receiving messages.

“Among all of them, I received a message from a woman named Lorena stating that she had just been talking to my brother. She gave me a phone number and she (she told me) that she should call me at that number and that they would give me more information.“, Ramos told EFE in a telephone conversation from Mexico.

When he called, the person on the other end of the line told him that “Indeed they had” to his brother, and that he had to pay US$ 10,000 for his release.

The woman began receiving messages with photos apparently of her brother asking for help, but with the support of experts she discovered that the images were fake, as was the video they sent her. One of the photos she provided had been used to generate the images.

It was all a setup by alleged kidnappers who, using artificial intelligence, copy a person’s face and mount it on the image of someone else’s body to obtain photographs and videos.

When the extortionists didn’t get the money, they sent Ramos a message in which you can only hear a person being beaten and screaming in pain.

Óscar Andrade, director of Capellanes del Desierto, a non-profit organization that searches for people reported missing in the Arizona desert, told EFE that there are more and more cases in which artificial intelligence is used to manipulate videos and images that Families receive when they are asked for a ransom for their loved ones.

“These unscrupulous people take advantage of the pain of families to extort them and try to get money from them.“, said.

A source from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told EFE that the agency is aware of this practice and that the cases are being investigated.

For his part, Andrade indicated that he himself has analyzed the images and videos with experts, and that they have taught him how to detect that it is digital manipulation.

“Shadows are seen, especially where the head connects with the body, and if the video does not have any sound, this is a clear red flag.“, held.

He explained that pages of criminal groups constantly emerge that supposedly want to help families look for their loved ones and that they feed on information from social networks to start extortion.

The activist recommends that families look “very carefully” at the images and videos they are sent to detect anomalies. For example, a person who has been kidnapped cannot have a face.”smiling” or a “calm countenance” in the photographs.

“I myself put false information on one of these pages and they immediately contacted me saying that they had my ‘sister’ and asked me for $4,000 to free her.”Andrade said.

Another case that Capellanes del Desierto has received was that of “Juan”, a Guatemalan migrant who also disappeared after crossing the border.

The family began receiving audio messages from a supposed Texas sheriff asking for US$2,000 like “bail” to free the migrant, according to the recordings to which EFE had access.

Upon realizing that the family would not send the deposit, this man who spoke perfect Spanish became more threatening and even began to insult the young man’s mother.

“All this while we already knew that ‘Juan’ was going back to Guatemala on a plane because he had been deported.”Andrade said.

The activist indicated that as the migratory flow across the border has increased, reports of missing people have also increased, which in his opinion causes more cases of extortion to occur.