Dutch police said Monday they received a dozen “tips” after the broadcast of a “deepfake” – a fake video – in which a 13-year-old victim called to testify to clarify his own murder.
It’s about a “world first in investigation“, according to the police. “The fact that +tips+ have been received is very positive”, said Lillian van Duijvenbode, spokesperson for the police of the city of Rotterdam (Netherlands), the day after the broadcast of the video made using the “deepfake” technique. “But we have not yet checked if these +pipes+ are usable”Mr. van Duijvenbode told AFP.
The “deepfake” technique makes it possible to create ultra-realistic simulations of real people by replacing one face with another or one voice with another. Young footballer Sedar Soares was murdered ‘out of nowhere’ in 2003, aged 13, while throwing snowballs with his friends in the parking lot of a Rotterdam metro station, explained Port City Police.
In the wrong place, at the wrong time
In the film, released almost 20 years after his death, we see the young man crossing a football field, a ball under his arm, surrounded by relatives, former teachers and football comrades lined up in a hedge of honor, some patting him the shoulder. The young man stops at the end of the film, asking in front of the camera: “Do you know any more? So speak now”.
Mr. Soares was “in the wrong place, at the wrong time“, according to the police, who, thanks to new information, hope to finally be able to solve this “cold case”.
“It now appears there was a ‘rip deal’ next to the subway station where young Sedar was murdered.“, she said in a statement, referring to an organized crime scam. Police believe he was “a victim of underworld violence out of sheer bad luck”, and are now seeking testimony from individuals who were aware of the scam in addition to eyewitnesses to the tragedy.