The Infiltration Of Mexican Cartels Into The Gaming World: This Is How They Recruit Their Hitmen Through Video Games

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

In the early morning, parents sleep and the teenagers pick up their game controls. Organized crime knows this well and that is why it has invented a new form of recruitment to swell its ranks of potential hitmen

In recent days, an investigation by the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal revealed how the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) uses social networks - such as Twitter, Facebook and Twitter - to recruit potential hitmen and swell their ranks.

However, recently a new method of recruitment also came to light that took everyone by surprise including strangers: video games.

According to an investigation by journalist Óscar Balderas, organized crime recruits have paid special attention to multiplayer platforms, particularly in the case of video games such as GTA, Gears of Way or Call of Duty.

Balderas warned about this new modus operandi thanks to the complaint of a teenager, who in the early morning of Saturday, September 18, received an invitation from a stranger while playing Grand Theft Auto 5 online on his Xbox 360 console.

The player's name was "EL KIL0Z CDN". CDN stands for the Northeast Cartel. His profile picture was that of a young man of no more than 18 years old in a bulletproof vest, a pashmina and a military helmet. But unlike other occasions, this time he wasn’t just a simple admirer of the cartel.

Seconds before the "EL KIL0Z CDN" had created within the video game an event called Open Recruitment: CDN Z Old SCHOOL 35th Battalion, which gave players the option of pressing two buttons: "I am interested" or "sharing this publication".

Alfredo immediately picked up his phone and photographed his television screen. In one image was the evidence of the event and in another the profile of the recruiter, who had 228 followers and 6 friends.

However, it was not the first time Alfredo saw similar messages. In recent months he had seen at least three more, all the same.

On one occasion, another alleged recruiter said he belonged to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), and another to the Sinaloa Cartel. The events warned that they were looking for serious people. If you press the "I'm interested" button, a window opens that organized crime makes it very difficult to close again.

In the early morning, parents sleep and teenagers pick up their game controls. This is well known to the Mexican cartels, which like the security forces of other countries - such as the United States, Germany or the Japanese Police - seek to identify young people interested in weapons, violence and adrenaline.

In the case of social networks, for at least three years, the criminal group led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, diversified its forms of recruitment and did so through the American conglomerate of social networks.

WSJ claims that a policeman hired by Facebook discovered that the drug cartel published ads through this social network, where he offered work as a triggerman. Once people were convinced, members of the CJNG were in charge of threatening them never to abandon "employment."

Vacancies were published in personal accounts under the name "CJNG" - badges of the name Jalisco New Generation Cartel - or their derivatives and requested personnel between 16 and 35 years old to work.

The activity of drug traffickers was not limited to the search for hitmen. The cyber agent also found that Mexico's most powerful criminal organization used social networks to show off its ostentatious life and the hundreds of thousands of murders that weigh against them.

According to experts, the Jalisco Cartel and other drug cartels have found an alternative form of expression, and a way to expand their business. Sometimes they are also used to convey a positive image. After the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, criminal groups distributing food appeared in several regions of Mexico.

The organization that has the most presence on the Internet is the CJNG whose pages have been encrypted. This has been one of the reasons for its rapid expansion, warn security experts and analysts.

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