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Morata love-scam probe
In Morata de Tajuña, the Guardia Civil is investigating the violent deaths of Ángeles Gutiérrez Ayuso and her siblings Amelia and Pepe Gutiérrez Ayuso as a possible score-settling tied to a debt connected to a prior 'love scammer' who plundered the siblings and their circle at least 400,000 euros under the false promise of a millionaire inheritance.
“Based on observed and directly verified facts by our journalists or by informed sources”
20minutos describes how a scammer introduced himself on Facebook to Ángeles Gutiérrez Ayuso with the message "Hi, nice to meet you, you look so beautiful, how are you?" and then asked for a phone number to continue via WhatsApp.
The article says the scammer claimed to be an American serviceman residing in Yemen, though attached to Fort Leonard Wood, the Army’s Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, in Missouri, and it adds that Ángeles exchanged up to 17 messages with him on the day exactly 52 weeks ago.
20minutos also says the Civil Guard explains it is difficult to stop the scammers because they operate from abroad, while the Guardia Civil is investigating the deaths as possible retaliation for not paying a debt.
In the same Morata case context, the article quotes the Guardia Civil confirming that soldiers, pilots or surgeons are the profiles cybercriminals most frequently create to execute the love scam, romance scam, a scam that starts on a social network and extends into the victim’s private life.
AI, US tech, and scale
The Associated Press and "FRONTLINE" describe a global scam system in which Safeer Mohammed Koorimannil, trafficked to a scam center in Myanmar, impersonated a 28-year-old Singaporean woman named Ella and said he chatted with more than 100 people across dozens of profiles at the same time.
AP reports that Koorimannil targeted some 50,000 victims from at least 17 countries in a month, and it says the software he used was powered in part by American artificial intelligence models.
From the same investigation, AP quotes Koorimannil saying, "Everyone is a robot there," and it frames the broader finding that American technology is present all along the digital supply chains that connect scammers with the scammed.
The Associated Press investigation says American-made AI models—chiefly ChatGPT and Gemini—have been used to build specialized software that allows scammers to seamlessly work across dozens of languages, surveil workers and target victims around the world.
AP adds that Elon Musk’s satellite internet company, Starlink, is the number one internet service provider in Myanmar, including to scam centers, despite public pressure from Congress and a widely publicized crackdown last fall.
Deepfakes and legal exposure
BBC News reports on a French woman, Anne, who was deceived and handed over $850,000 to scammers who posed as actor Brad Pitt with the help of artificial intelligence, and it says TF1 pulled the program after a wave of ridicule directed at her.
“The woman who lost $850,000 after being duped by an AI-created Brad Pitt - Author: Laura Gozzi - Byline: BBC News - Publication date - Reading time: 5 min A French woman was deceived and handed over $850,000 to scammers who posed as actor Brad Pitt with the help of artificial intelligence”
The BBC quotes Anne saying, "They simply deceived me, I admit it, and that’s why I came forward, because I’m not the only one," and it says she was said to have lost her savings and attempted suicide three times since the scam came to light.
In a separate account of romance scams using video manipulation, WIRED describes deepfake video calls in which a scammer uses face-swapping technology to fool victims in romantic scams, and it says the U.S. FBI reported that last year more than $650 million were lost to romance scams.
WIRED quotes David Maimon saying, "I don't think they do it because they're stupid," and it adds that he monitored the Yahoo Boys on Telegram for more than four years and shared dozens of videos showing how scammers use deepfakes.
Franceinfo frames romance scams as a crime under the French Penal Code when a person contacts you via a messaging service or mobile app to express romantic or friendly feelings in order to extract money, and it says the Penal Code punishes such scams with a prison sentence of 5 years and a €375,000 fine.
