Mexico City — It starts with a notification. Maybe a friend request from someone who seems familiar, or an urgent message that pings on your phone late at night. You tell yourself it’s just another alert in a world of endless alerts, but this time, it’s different. Behind that click, behind that seemingly innocent interaction, there could be an elaborate web spun by criminals who no longer need dark alleys or locked doors to reach their prey. With artificial intelligence (AI) at their fingertips, these invisible hands are getting smarter, quicker, and frighteningly more dangerous.
How AI Is Redefining Crime in Latin America
In the winding streets of Latin American cities, crime was once something you could see, something tangible. But today, it’s becoming a silent storm, sweeping through the digital world—faceless, borderless, and, for the most part, unnoticed. Criminals are leveraging AI to move faster than we ever imagined, outpacing both law enforcement and the digital safeguards that were meant to keep us safe.
The human cost of this transformation is staggering. From Brazil to Mexico, AI isn’t just changing the way we work and live; it’s becoming the backbone of modern criminal networks. Children as young as ten are being drawn into these webs, lured by false promises of wealth and security, only to find themselves trapped in a life that is neither glamorous nor free.
1. Targeting the Vulnerable: AI’s Role in Recruiting Children
The appeal of fast money and an easy life isn’t new. But now, algorithms are being used to identify and exploit the most vulnerable children, especially in economically deprived regions. Social media platforms that were once seen as a space for connection and community have become hunting grounds. AI-driven content, designed to be addictive, shows teenagers videos of other kids their age flashing cash and driving expensive cars. What those videos don’t show is the reality behind the scenes—the chains of criminal networks that, once locked around these children, are nearly impossible to escape.
Katherine Herrera Aguilar, a political analyst in Latin American security, explains it best: “Children in these regions lack the protection of both family and state. AI enables criminal groups to target and groom these children in ways that are frighteningly effective.”
2. AI-Optimized Drug and Human Trafficking Routes
Gone are the days when drug runners relied solely on their knowledge of backroads or corrupt officials. Today, they use the same technology as you and me—apps like Waze and Google Maps. But instead of finding the fastest route to their favorite restaurant, they’re optimizing routes for drug smuggling, human trafficking, and weapons transport.
By analyzing real-time data, AI helps criminal organizations avoid law enforcement, finding paths that are less monitored and more profitable. The result? A more sophisticated, streamlined operation that makes it harder for authorities to intervene. It’s chilling to think that the same technology you use to avoid a traffic jam can be twisted for such devastating purposes.
3. Large-Scale Phishing and Social Engineering: New Digital Frontier
With AI, crafting a convincing scam no longer requires a hacker to be a coding genius. All it takes is a powerful algorithm and access to social media. Criminals can scrape massive amounts of data, analyzing the habits, interests, and behaviors of potential victims within seconds. From there, personalized phishing attacks can be launched at scale, making every message or email feel eerily familiar.
It’s the intimacy of these attacks that is so disconcerting. These aren’t generic messages from a faraway prince asking for your bank account details. These are carefully crafted, persuasive communications that tap into your emotions, your dreams, and your fears.
As Matthew Noyes from the U.S. Secret Service points out, “AI has turned once clumsy scams into personalized attacks, making them harder to detect and more devastating in their impact.”
4. Deepfakes: When Your Eyes Deceive You
Imagine receiving a video call from a loved one, begging for help, their voice breaking with desperation. You’d respond, right? Now imagine finding out later that the person on the other side of the screen wasn’t your loved one at all, but a sophisticated deepfake—a digital imposter designed to manipulate you.
This isn’t science fiction. This is happening. Criminals in Latin America, and around the world, are using AI to create deepfakes—videos, photos, and audio files that mimic real people with terrifying accuracy. These digital forgeries can be used to extort money, commit fraud, or even blackmail innocent victims.
5. AI-Generated Malware: The Invisible Threat to Businesses and Governments
Cyberattacks used to require time and effort—writing malicious code, finding a way to distribute it, and hoping the victim would fall into the trap. But AI has changed all that. With the ability to generate new types of malware and quickly identify vulnerabilities, cybercriminals can launch attacks faster and more efficiently than ever before.
For businesses and governments across Latin America, this has become an escalating arms race. The moment one vulnerability is patched, AI can detect another, allowing criminals to stay one step ahead in a game where the stakes couldn’t be higher.
6. Dark Web Marketplaces: AI as a Service for Criminals
As AI becomes more accessible, criminals are turning to dark web marketplaces to purchase AI tools that help them commit crimes. This isn’t just about buying illegal drugs or weapons anymore. We’re talking about AI-generated code that can hack into secure systems, AI algorithms that scrape data, and even deepfake software. The technology is sold with the same ease as a Netflix subscription, complete with customer support.
These criminal organizations are evolving, mirroring the digital economy in a way that should concern us all. The barriers to entry for cybercrime are lower than ever, and AI is at the heart of this terrifying shift.
What Can Be Done?
The fight against AI-powered crime isn’t hopeless, but it is daunting. International cooperation is essential, as criminal networks cross borders just as easily as data packets. Law enforcement agencies are starting to use AI for good—creating predictive models to anticipate criminal behavior and deploying advanced tools to track and stop cyberattacks.
But perhaps the most important weapon we have is awareness. Knowing that these schemes exist, that the digital world can be manipulated in ways we don’t fully understand, is the first step. As Jürgen Stock, Secretary General of Interpol, once said: “Technology may be a criminal’s greatest tool, but it can also be their greatest undoing.”
The Emotional Toll of AI-Driven Crime
There’s something deeply unsettling about the idea that criminals can reach us not just through our doors but through our screens. We once thought of the internet as a vast and open frontier, a place for connection, learning, and growth. But now, it sometimes feels more like a trap—one where every click could be a step closer to danger.
This is the new reality for millions of people across Latin America. The victims of AI-powered scams, the children recruited into criminal organizations, and the families whose lives are forever altered by these invisible forces. Behind every statistic, there’s a person, a story, a heartbreak.
And that, perhaps, is the greatest crime of all. Because AI isn’t just changing the way we live—it’s changing the way we fear.
