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Almendralejo (Spain): Parents and local residents in Almendralejo - a town in the Province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain, are in shock after they found AI-Generated images and Deepfakes of minor girls leaked online.
A gang of local boys is believed to be behind the leaked nude photos, according to the media reports.
The reports said, an AI app was used to analyse the images stolen from the girl children's social media accounts, and produce hyper-sexualised naked images.
Nearly 20–30 girls, ages 11 to 17, have reported being victims, the reports said.
"One day my daughter came out of school and she said 'Mum there are photos circulating of me topless'”, María Blanco Rayo, the mother of a 14-year-old, told the BBC. “I asked her if she had taken any photos of herself nude, and she said, 'No, Mum, these are fake photos of girls that are being created a lot right now and there are other girls in my class who said this has happened to them as well”, she added.
"One day my daughter came out of school and she said 'Mum there are photos circulating of me topless'”, María Blanco Rayo, the mother of a 14-year-old, told the BBC.
“I asked her if she had taken any photos of herself nude, and she said, 'No, Mum, these are fake photos of girls that are being created a lot right now and there are other girls in my class who said this has happened to them as well”, she added.
Dr. Miriam Al Adib, mother of one other victims, in an Instagram video said that her daughter, 14, found the morphed images to be particularly distressing because they appeared to be real.
''If I didn't know my daughter's body, this photo looks real. You (the culprits) are not aware of the damage you are causing. Using images to create this disgusting material and distributing them is a very serious crime,'' she said. "Girls, don't be afraid to report such acts. Tell your mothers. Affected mothers, tell me so that you can be in the group that we created," she added.
''If I didn't know my daughter's body, this photo looks real. You (the culprits) are not aware of the damage you are causing. Using images to create this disgusting material and distributing them is a very serious crime,'' she said.
"Girls, don't be afraid to report such acts. Tell your mothers. Affected mothers, tell me so that you can be in the group that we created," she added.
The local law enforcement is handling as many as 11 complaints, all of whom are minors. A support group has also been formed by the parents of the affected children to assist them.
At least 11 local boys have been identified as being behind in the creation of the deepfake images or their circulation on the apps like Telegram and WhatsApp. Local police is also probing a claim that a fake image was used to extort money from a girl victim, according to BBC.
A spokesperson from the local police while speaking to news agency AFP said that the boys responsible for these ''manipulated photos of underage girls", superimposed their innocent faces onto the "bodies of other people" in other images.
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