Church in Mexico denounces cloning of Cardinal Rivera’s voice for fraud

The Primate Archdiocese of Mexico in the country’s capital warned that “a group of fraudsters have cloned the voice of Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera with artificial intelligence to promote ‘miracle products’.”

The incident was reported through weekly From faithwhich details how the image of the archbishop emeritus was “adapted” to “deceptively advertise a product that supposedly would have cured a high blood pressure problem, given that he is not even hypertensive.”

“In the video, their image is manipulated to make those who suffer from this disease believe that by consuming the product they offer they will be able to overcome said condition,” the media reports.

The Archdiocese regretted that “the use of technological resources “to clone the voices of public figures in order to defraud citizens” is “increasingly common,” a practice from which “the Catholic Church has not been safe.”

This incident is not isolated, since in January of this year, the Archdiocese accused “a miracle product company” of using the technique of deepfakewhich imitates the appearance and sound of a person using artificial intelligence technology, to “manipulate the voice of the Mexican Archbishop.”

Likewise, in August 2023, advertisements circulated on social networks for articles supposedly endorsed by well-known Mexican priests such as Father Ángel Espinosa de los Monteros and Father José de Jesús Aguilar.

The Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks of Mexico (Cofepris) identifies to “miracle products” or “deception” to those that promise to alleviate suffering “without presenting any technical-scientific evidence,” even “taking advantage of people’s urgency and causing health risks.”

For this reason, the Primate Archdiocese of Mexico called on the population “not to fall into this type of fraud” and “avoid being a victim of deceptions that are spread through social networks.”