AI

Man impersonated 30 people in Spain with AI to obtain their digital certificates

Published

1 hour ago

August 11, 2026

admin

AI can now recreate a face convincingly enough to pass a live identity check. Credit: Tero Vesalainen / Shutterstock

The face on screen matched the photo on the ID card, and the card even caught the light like a real one. What the man was trying to walk away with would have let him sign legal documents and deal with the Spanish state as somebody else.

The second-long glitch that undid the attempt

The man was not playing a previously edited video of someone else, he was sitting in front of the camera himself and holding up a forged DNI (Spanish national identity card) while software altered his features live so they matched the photograph on the document, and let him move, speak and respond naturally through the check. According to the National Police, it worked well enough to be attempted 38 times, using more than 30 identities belonging to real people.

During one of those checks the program lagged and for roughly a second the digital mask disappeared and the camera recorded the face of the person actually making the request, before the disguise reappeared. The certificate company had kept the full recording of the session, and that single second became one of the main leads in the investigation, police said.

What a certificate in someone else’s name unlocks

An electronic certificate is the master key to dealing with the Spanish state online. It carries a qualified electronic signature, which under Spanish and European law has the same legal weight as a signature written by hand. Anyone holding one in another person’s name can log in as them at Hacienda (the Spanish tax agency) and see their full income and tax history, file or amend a return, and alter the account a refund is paid into. The same credential opens Seguridad Social (the social security system), where benefits are claimed and workers are registered, along with town hall paperwork, vehicle records and company filings.

That is why police said the aim was later financial fraud rather than the video call itself. A forged card only had to survive a few minutes in front of a webcam, as a certificate issued by a legitimate provider keeps working afterwards, and it carries the real person’s identity wherever it is used.

More than 30 people had their details put through that process. Some may have no idea their information was even circulating at all.

Coloured bulbs and a tilted card to fake the holograms

Changing his face was only half the man’s problem and the first step to being believable. The operator on the other end also had to be satisfied by the document itself. Police said the man used forged DNI cards with altered photographs and personal details, then built a small studio around them. Household lamps fitted with coloured bulbs were positioned to reproduce the flashes and reflections a genuine card gives off under light. A fairly genius idea. He also rocked the card in front of the webcam to imitate the way holograms shift on a real document. Officers described the combination as a pioneering technique.

More than 320 phone lines traced back to 24 handsets

Working from the real face, investigators began cross-checking the applications against each other: emails, telephone numbers, payment methods, devices and connection data. Then requests that looked entirely unrelated started pointing at the same person. Police identified more than 320 telephone lines linked to just 24 mobile devices, most contracted using other people’s identities and bought from outlets in Murcia.

The man had also used tools to obscure where his connections came from. Police noted those tools are legal and widely used for ordinary privacy reasons, but said here they formed part of a structure designed to separate the activity from his real identity.

How to check whether a name has been used

The man was arrested in Murcia on suspicion of a continued offence of forgery of an official document. Officers searched his home and seized an encrypted laptop, several mobile phones, storage devices and paperwork, all of which still has to be analysed to establish whether more identities were involved. Police have documented 38 fraudulent attempts rather than 38 completed frauds, and no figure has been released for money taken.

Anyone worried their details have been used elsewhere can request a free report from CIRBE, the Bank of Spain’s credit risk register, which lists loans and credit registered against their name. Suspected identity theft should be reported to the Policía Nacional or Guardia Civil.

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Apple Maps’ Camera Backpacks Are Walking Spain’s Streets – And The Images May Train AI

Published

6 days ago

August 5, 2026

Harry Dennis

apple-maps’-camera-backpacks-are-walking-spain’s-streets-–-and-the-images-may-train-ai

Apple uses portable camera systems to map pedestrian areas its vehicles cannot reach. Credit: nifunifa712 / X

Apple has taken its street-mapping cameras beyond the road, sending backpack-equipped surveyors through pedestrian areas of Madrid and Cataluña. While faces and number plates are blurred before publication, homes are obscured only if a person requests it, and anonymised images may also be used to train AI.

Apple’s cameras are reaching places its vehicles cannot

Apple conducted backpack surveys in Cataluña from March 30 to June 23, 2026, and in the Community of Madrid until July 1, according to the company’s official image-collection schedule. The portable systems allow surveyors to photograph pedestrianised streets, squares, pathways and other public spaces that cannot be reached by Apple’s mapping vehicles. Apple specifically cites streets in Madrid where driving is not possible as an example of where the backpacks can come in handy.

Some of the information collected can be used directly in Apple Maps, including its Look Around feature, which allows users to explore streets through a panoramic ground-level view. Other portable surveys use iPhones, iPads or similar devices to improve the accuracy of the underlying map.

A video circulating on X has now placed the equipment under renewed scrutiny. It shows an Apple Maps operator carrying one of the distinctive camera backpacks through a busy public area near the coast.

Buenas noches Españoles de bien.

Apple revolucionando la cartografía: manda empleados a caminar con mochilas llenas de cámaras y LiDAR porque, claro, los coches y los satélites son demasiado mainstream para callejones estrechos. 🤡
Ahora sí, Apple Maps tendrá vistas de nivel… pic.twitter.com/3yf1A5tGeE

— Nifu-Nifa 🇪🇸 (@NifuNifa712) August 4, 2026

The footage does not establish that Apple has introduced an entirely new mapping system, nor is it evidence of a privacy breach. But it does raise questions on what happens to the images of people, vehicles and homes caught along the way, and whether some places should remain “best kept secrets”.

Faces and number plates are blurred before publication

Apple says it blurs faces and vehicle registration plates in images published through Look Around. The same privacy protections apply whether the imagery was collected from a vehicle or by a surveyor walking with portable equipment. Apple promises that identifying details will be obscured in the publicly available imagery.

Spain’s Data Protection Agency says registration plates can constitute personal data, therefore blurring plates removes one of the clearest identifying details before a street scene is made available online. Homes, however, are treated differently. Apple does not promise to blur house façades automatically, although residents can request that their own individual property be obscured. Requests can also be submitted if a face or registration plate has not been sufficiently hidden. This places some responsibility on residents to inspect the published imagery and complain if they believe it reveals more than they are comfortable having online.

The imagery can serve a second purpose beyond Maps

The most significant privacy question is how the resulting material may later be reused, and not just on their maps app. Apple says blurred imagery collected during its mapping surveys can help develop and improve other company products and services. This includes training models connected to image recognition, image creation and image enhancement.

Apple confirms that the material used for these additional purposes is blurred, and pedestrian’s faces or house façades will not be automatically placed inside an AI training set. However, its Spanish image-collection notice does not identify which individual products or models will use the data, how much of the collected imagery will be reused or how long those training datasets may be retained.

The result is a broader trade-off than simply exchanging street photography for a more detailed map. Public spaces that cannot be reached by camera cars can now be documented on foot, and the resulting visual information may contribute to Apple technology well beyond navigation.

Residents can request that their homes are hidden

Anyone who wants a face, registration plate or their own home blurred out can report the image through Apple Maps or contact the company using the address mapsimagecollection@apple.com. Apple’s Maps reporting privacy notice says a blurring request may be linked to the person’s Apple Account or email address.

No publication date has been announced for imagery gathered during the 2026 pedestrian surveys in Madrid and Cataluña. Residents will just have to wait until their blurred out silhouettes appear in Look Around before checking how their street, property or image has been presented.

The backpack itself may look more intrusive than an ordinary mapping car because the operator walks directly among everyone else. Next to you while you eat on a terrace, as you sunbathe on the beach, or as you walk your dog outside your house. But the more consequential issue is what Apple collects in public, if it automatically hides what it should and how far supposedly anonymised street imagery travels once the map has been made.