Spanish police dismantle network creating deepfake child abuse images

Spanish National Police, supported by Europol, have dismantled a criminal network that used AI nudification tools to create and distribute deepfake child sexual abuse material, arresting five individuals and seizing devices containing more than 15,000 AI-manipulated images of minors. The network harvested photographs of children from social media platforms and school websites, then used commercially available generative AI software to produce sexualized imagery, which was shared on encrypted messaging services and dark web forums. Investigators identified victims across Spain and several other European countries, with some of the manipulated images subsequently used in online extortion attempts targeting the depicted children.

Intervention at the point an offender makes contact with a victim, rather than after imagery has been created and distributed, reduces the window in which harm can occur. Guardii's anti-sextortion and anti-CSAM detection modules operate in real time within the direct-message environments where such material is typically shared, identifying the conversational signatures of coercion and the transmission of child sexual abuse material, including AI-generated and deepfake content, and blocking the exchange before it reaches the child. By flagging the threat pattern to a parent, school safeguarding lead or law enforcement rather than relying on retrospective reporting, the system enables immediate protective action and rapid escalation where criminal activity is detected.