A 22-year-old Palm Beach County man is facing charges after investigators said he used a fake, AI-generated video to report a crime that never occurred in an attempt to go “viral” on social media, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Officers arrested Alexis Martínez-Arizala, a Lake Worth Beach resident, on Wednesday, April 8, in Puerto Rico on charges of filing a false crime report to law enforcement and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said Martínez-Arizala will be extradited to Seminole County, near Orlando, and be held with his bail set at $7,000. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said the case remains an open investigation.
Here is the latest on the man facing charges for using an AI-generated video to file a fake police report in Seminole County, Florda.
Florida man arrested for using fake AI video for report crime
The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said the incident took place March 24, when Martínez-Arizala approached a deputy in a retail store in Lake Mary, claiming he saw people attempting to entering a patrol vehicle parked outside.
Martínez-Arizala showed the deputy a three-second video of two men opening and entering the squad car, according to the police report.
The deputy checked the patrol vehicle and didn’t find any sign that it had been disturbed or that something had been stolen. The deputy reviewed the store’s surveillance-camera footage that captured one man, later determined to be Martínez-Arizala, walking toward the vehicle while holding his phone.
Detectives determined the video was fake and identified Martínez-Arizala as the man who showed the deputy the fabricated video.
Then, investigators found the 22-year-old had posted the incident with the deputy on social media “in an apparent attempt to gain attention and create viral content,” according to the news release by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.
How did sheriff realize AI video used in crime report?
The sheriff’s office said the deputy realized the video was fabricated after watching it several times and catching details that didn’t make sense.
The deputy noticed the patrol vehicle didn’t have the Seminole sheriff’s name on it; that the bodies of the two men disappeared after they entered the vehicle; and the back door appeared to open and close by itself.
Is filing a fake police report a crime in Florida?
Yes. Florida law makes it a crime to knowingly give false information to a law-enforcement officer about a crime.
Filing a fake crime report is considered a first-degree misdemeanor punishable with a $1,000 fine or up to year in jail. It can lead to a felony if it involves a capital crime or if the person already has a prior conviction for the offense.
Police say AI-videos growing concern in fake crime reports
As the uses and popularity of Artificial Intelligence grow, so have the use of deepfake videos to in crime reports and evidence for law-enforcement agencies and the legal system.
Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma said the misuse of AI to create deepfake videos is a growing concern, especially it targets public-safety officials.
“These fabricated videos can damage reputations, create unnecessary tensions, and raise real safety concerns for the first responders who serve our communities,” Lemma said. “As this technology becomes more accessible, we take these types of crimes seriously and will take action to protect those who are targeted in our community.”
Valentina Palm covers immigration and Palm Beach County’s western communities for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County man arrested for using AI video in fake crime report
Reporting by Valentina Palm, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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