It has been reported that Mexico’s drug quartel uses online games to recruitment activities. According to the company reports, the cartel has been inviting people to criminal acts through works such as Grand TheFT Auto Online (GTA Online) and the mobile shutter Garena Free Fire. It seems that children in their early teens are included.
In Mexico, the drug problem is serious. In the country, the situation, also known as the Mexican drug war, has been around for many years. While the Mexican government and the neighboring United States are trying to capture drug cartels, there are still crime organizations, including cartels. Even this year, there have been killing journalists found by criminal organizations and firefights with the arrest of criminal organizations (REUTERS). One of the causes of this situation is that Mexico is a neighboring country in the United States. Mexico is a relay point for drugs manufactured in South America to be supplied to the United States. Mexico’s drug quartel seems to be active in criminal acts such as drug smuggling and secret construction.
Case where GTA ONLINE was abused
And in Mexican drug cartels, it seems that criminal collaborators who use online games are also implementing recruitment. According to the US Business Paper Forbes, the US Customs and Border Security Bureau surveyed a vehicle in Arizona, USA, which is bordered by Mexico. He found a methane fetamine (so-called stimulant) nearly 60 km.
She said in an interrogation that she was a driver, and she said she had met a man named George through GTA Online. She was invited to carry electrical appliances while talking to George in another chat tool and actually met. The presented reward is $ 2,000 (about 270,000 yen) at most depending on the amount of transportation. It is unknown whether she knew what she was carrying. However, she gave me the job I met through the game was a criminal act itself.
Case where Garena Free Fire was abused
Also, last winter, the boys were drawn into the cartel through online games. AP communication reports as an announcement by the Ministry of Public Security of Mexico. According to the announcement, one boy was accepted by a cartel conqueror in the battle royal shutter Garena Free Fire and was accepted to work for the organization. The boy said that his friends also worked on work. The 11-year-old and 14-year-old boys were protected in Oaxaca, Mexico, just before boarding a bus arranged by the cartel.
And in May this year, local media Telemundo reported details about the boy called Ernesto. He and his friends were in contact with a man named MORENO in the game, and later interacted with a chat app. MORENO presented three boys a monthly reward of 8,000 Mexican pesos (about 54,000 yen). He told Oahaka to come to the city Montelley, about 1350 km by car, to work. It seems that this means of transportation was a bus arranged by the cartel.
The work of the boys is surveillance
The job that was given to the three boys was a monitoring role called Halcones. It is a role in telling the cartel the movements of law execution organizations such as police, such as borders. MORENO told the boys, If you do your job firmly, you will sell drags and make more money as a killer.
It was a woman who seemed to be a different member from the aforementioned man, MORENO, who picked up the boys. She said that the woman was threatened by the three, and she was threatened that she could no longer be back, and she was arrested to a suburban hideaway. According to Ernesto-kun, she trembled at that time, thinking, She can’t go home again and see her parents again. However, a group of parents, led by Ernesto’s mother, was pursuing their steps. Then, the mobile phone that Ernesto happened to turn turned on, and the location information of the arrested location was found. The three have been protected by the information provided. If you were on the bus as it was, what kind of end was the three boys waiting?
While the woman who seems to be a member of the constituent has been arrested, the profile on Moreno, a member of the man, has disappeared, and it seems that he can not grasp the gap. According to the Mexican government agencies, the cartel will mix numbers with the likely words when they invite them on chat. For example, N4RC0 (NARCO/drug), C4RT3L (Cartel/Cartel), ZIC4RI0S (SICARIOS/Killer). You can feel the existence of members who are used to games and chat mechanisms.
Not only GTA Online and Garena Free Fire, in communication-friendly online games, serious troubles by malicious users can occur. Game companies are taking measures, but it would be practically impossible to prevent them. The same is true for chat apps, and there is a limit to the responsibility of the platform side. In the case of users or children, it is a realistic means to defend their parents.
The invitation by drug cartels arrived through the game probably because of Mexico, which has the background of the drug war. However, in Japan, there may be problems through games. There is a good chance that you will be involved in criminal acts. Although it depends on the title, the media of the game is easy for children to touch. Parents with games-loving children may need to pay attention to not only chat apps but also friendships in the game.