Associated Incidents
The Vice Minister of Internal Affairs, Jhonny Aguilera, confirmed that a criminal organization was dismantled that, with artificial intelligence, used the voice of the Minister of Education to defraud. The criminals operated from the San Roque prison, in Chuquisaca.
“We have managed to seize the cell phone numbers, there we found the transfers of at least 19 victims; the figures, undoubtedly, vary; but today we can say that the four people who are serving preventive detention for the strategy of offering jobs in the name of the Ministry of Education, had at least managed to collect Bs 5 million,” Aguilera revealed.
According to Aguilera, the criminal organization was made up of seven people and to commit their crimes, they cloned the voice of the Minister of Education, Omar Véliz, with the help of artificial intelligence, with which they captured their victims.
Initially, they spread messages on social networks, such as Tik Tok and Facebook, offering job opportunities. They used a WhatsApp number (60302325) as a reference and a person, who identified himself as Luis Mendieta, claimed to be the director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Education.
In order for people to believe the offer, they used the cloned voice of the minister to “call those interested.” In order to complete the contract, they asked for “an initial payment of Bs 3,500, which was made through QR.”
“The proof of the delivery of this money for the item was precisely this call, which was supposedly made by the minister,” Aguilera said.
So far, five members of the criminal organization have been identified: Vilma C.C., Luis G.C. and Alfredo Ch. S. (28), the three prisoners, the last two in the San Roque de Chuquisaca prison, in addition to Jackelin A.M. and Mariana A.S.
Alfredo Ch. S. (28) was the one who cloned the minister's voice, with a cell phone, which he was able to bring into the prison.
Meanwhile, Jackelin A.M. and Mariana A.S. recruited homeless people to open bank accounts, in exchange for a payment of Bs 300.
The members of the organization are accused of: fraud, extortion, aggravation for multiple victims, criminal action and criminal organization.
After the revelation of the crimes and in a precautionary hearing, Alfredo Ch. S. (28) was transferred to the Chonchocoro prison in La Paz.