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2025-03-27 Cyber
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Mexican cartels' TikTok recruiting scheme squashed as border agent sounds alarm on lingering threat
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[FoxNews] Human smugglers were openly flaunting their illegal excursions on TikTok, using the hashtag #CartelTok
The popular social media platform TikTok has removed a hashtag from its search engine after cartel members were caught using it to highlight their crimes and recruit human smugglers.
A TikTok spokesperson told Fox News Digital that in addition to removing "#CartelTok," from its search engine, the platform also removed "known leaders of cartels or gangs" that violated the organization's policy.
Many of the videos in question showed cartels flashing piles of money, jewelry and luxury items that were used to entice teens in America and Mexico to smuggle illegal immigrants across the U.S. border.
The videos proved that the cartel members were not afraid to boast about their illegal operations, often flaunting their cash on TikTok and other apps, bragging about the ease at which they can evade authorities.
"Carteltok is WILDDD," read a caption from a TikTok video posted on X.
"On TikTok there's currently a trend called 'carteltok', where Mexican cartels hire drug mules who are then paid in crypto. It almost seems as if the cartels are striking back at the Trump administration," another X user wrote, sharing another video of cartels at work from another social media site.
The smugglers not only targeted TikTok for their recruitment, they used other social media sites, including Snapchat and Instagram, among others. They then use encrypted messaging apps, usually WhatsApp, to communicate anonymously with cartel members, getting audio or text messages instructing them where to pick up their human payloads, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Chris Olivarez previously told Fox News Digital.
Representatives for Snapchat, TikTok and Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, told Fox News Digital that they have policies in place to crack down on such content and remove such content when it does appear on their platforms.
In August, 22 people were indicted in Arizona for allegedly recruiting truck drivers using Snapchat posts of cash glamorizing illegal migrant smuggling. Many of the posts claimed drivers can make hefty sums of money without the risk of being arrested.
In September, an Arizona man was sentenced to 71 months in prison for transporting hundreds of illegal immigrants, and investigators found Snapchat posts in which he gloated about cramming people into overcrowded vehicles in unsafe conditions. He also used minors to facilitate certain smuggling operations.
A conviction for conspiring to transport illegal aliens for profit carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office in Arizona.
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Posted by Skidmark 2025-03-27 08:37||
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