Sinaloa search families report AI-image extortion

Reporting and context

Members of the Sinaloa search collective Madres en Lucha por tu Regreso a Casa are receiving threats and demands for up to 30,000 pesos through images of missing relatives manipulated with artificial intelligence, Jornada Baja California reported, citing the group’s president, Reynalda Chavira Pulido.

According to Jornada Baja California, Chavira Pulido described three incidents in less than three days that week. In one case, an initial demand for 20,000 pesos rose to 30,000. She said the senders also summoned families to particular locations, exposing them to danger if they went.

The images draw on missing-person notices and depict relatives kneeling, injured or threatened with knives, she said. She also described a video simulating a killing. These scenes were described as manipulated material used to intimidate families. Chavira Pulido withheld them from public circulation because of their graphic content and the potential harm to relatives; some arrived as view-once messages.

She said an investigator had previously helped her check suspicious messages, but had been removed from the case concerning Neto’s disappearance without an explanation to her. She also criticized communication with prosecutors and the State Commission for the Search for Persons, saying families lacked answers and recent searches were not progressing as they hoped.

Chavira Pulido said one assigned search concerned cases from 2017 despite requests involving more recent disappearances. The report did not specify whether a formal extortion complaint had been filed or a specific investigation opened.

Original publication: Jornada Baja California.