Description: At a Biggie Express convenience store in San Lorenzo, Paraguay, medical student Pablo Servín said employees publicly accused him of theft and refused service after a facial-recognition system reportedly matched him to a robbery suspect with 90% similarity. He said a subsequent review of security footage showed he was not the suspect. Servín described humiliation and questioned the chain's handling of biometric data. The system's developer was not identified.
Editor Notes: On or before 03/02/2025: At a Biggie Express convenience store in San Lorenzo, Paraguay, staff reportedly accused Pablo Servín of theft and denied him service after a facial-recognition match; a subsequent footage review reportedly showed that he was not the suspect. 03/02/2025: Servín publicly described the episode on X. 03/05/2025: Diario HOY and El Nacional published reports, including a reported 90% facial-similarity score and criticism of biometric surveillance. 11/14/2026: Incident ID created.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: Surveillance technology developers and Facial recognition system developers developed an AI system deployed by Facial recognition system deployers , Businesses using biometrics and Biggie Express, which harmed Shoppers , Privacy , People misidentified by facial recognition systems , Pablo Servín , Epistemic integrity , Customers , Consumers and Biometric data subjects.
Alleged implicated AI systems: Watchlist-based facial recognition matching systems , Surveillance technology , Retail facial recognition systems and Facial recognition systems
Incident Stats
Incident ID
1822
Report Count
2
Incident Date
2025-03-02
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
Loading...
“I went into the supermarket on my way to the bus stop when suddenly an employee approached me and told me I wasn't welcome. I asked her why, and she replied, ‘You robbed this store yesterday, and they identified you. You're not welcome her…
Loading...
A medical student recounted on social media the humiliating experience he endured at a Biggie Express store in San Lorenzo, where he was singled out as a thief and expelled from the premises without any chance to defend himself.
According t…
Variants
A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
Seen something similar?
