Bloomberg: Mexican drug cartels recruit teenagers through Free Fire and Grand Theft Auto V

The Mexican government has stated that organized crime now operates through popular video games. Recruiters contact children and offer to earn money in the northern states of Mexico by transmitting information about the movements of the police.

Photo — freepik

This was reported by Bloomberg, referring to a briefing with Deputy Minister for Public Security Ricardo Mejia.

Representatives of law enforcement agencies told about the situation in the state of Oaxaca: a recruiter from a drug cartel offered children 8 thousand pesos ($396) for every half a month of police surveillance. The criminal acted through the mobile online game Free Fire.

Three minors responded to the offer of earnings and were going to leave for the north of the country, but were intercepted by the police in time.

The situation in Oaxaca is not the only case when cartels worked through video games. Mexican media MVS Noticias in September wrote about how representatives of well-known criminal groups of the country contacted young people through GTA V.

“In the latter case, recruitment took place through a mobile game, but it could also take place through PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo Switch,” Mejia said. “Anonymous subjects get to know children in online games, communicate with them, and then hire them.”