Extortion ‘call centers’: the technological arm that serves crime and operates around prisons | bet

During the realization of the Telecommunications and Citizen Security Workshoporganized by the Association for the Promotion of National Infrastructure (AFIN)a panel of experts analyzed the relationship between the increase in cell phone theft with the sustained increase in extortion, and how these are carried out from prisons. Therefore, they concluded in the recognition of the role of the State as the main actor in the fight against crime, but also the role of the private company in supporting it by providing experience as technology.

The problem of not understanding the “criminal business”

Nicolas Zevallosfounder of the Institute of Criminology, revealed a worrying situation: that between 2017 and 2024, 14.25 million stolen cell phones were reported, as well as more than 12,600 complaints of extortion only in the first half of 2026, with an average of 3 complaints every hour.

“The cell phone is a potential tool for robbery and extortion”commented: “This phenomenon is explained by the increase in access to these objects: there are more and more telephones on the streets. Today, the criminal no longer steals on the street because it is more profitable to extort. It is a cost-benefit that the criminal ends up choosing.”

Zevallos is convinced that the Theft and extortion are not parallel problems, but go hand in handsince the stolen cell phone becomes an anonymous line that “supplies the extortion circuit and allows massive contact without exposing the offender.”

Given this, the founder of Institute of Criminology recognizes that there is good will on the part of the State, but that the current measures do not achieve the stated objectives, since “they are reduced to administrative procedures, with complex registration systems. They do not understand how the extortion circuit works.”

An example of this, in his view, is the National Registry of Mobile Terminals for Security (Renteseg)managed by OSIPTEL and which is responsible for combating theft as an illegal trade in cell phones. In that sense, he considers that there are three actors who are harmed: the citizen, the companies and the State itself.

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“Citizens give a lot of information when they buy a cell phone. They give more personal data than when they get married, they are exposed to vulnerable digital systems; companies, from the largest to the smallest, do a lot of work for verification. And, the State has responsibility on this issue, but without a budget,” he said.

Illegal economies that work for extortion

One of the problems that authorities are facing related to organized crime and telecommunications are the illegal economies that, for example, arise around prisons, which some describe as “illegal call centers”which are one of the many “services” that have the function of providing connectivity to inmates.

“They are placed next to the prisons, like in Costa Rica. The population is settling around the prisons. They begin to market these WiFi signals, which is another technology. You have systems to block the mobile signal, but not for WiFi. We are not talking about something necessarily organized, but about people, individuals, although they can also be part of an organization,” he said. Juan Pachecopresident of AFIN to El Comercio.

Likewise, he reiterated that this activity appears because there is a high demand for it, and that the strategy should not be to attack the formal offer, but rather to concentrate on the demand, “many times informal. These activities exist because they are accommodated by breaking all the rules.”

He also identified as part of this action the sending text messages (SMS) with a link to enter, an alleged debt with the bank or a package to pick up in the mail: “those messages were sent by machines directly to a cell phone. Not much has been done against that because they have not stopped proliferating.”

Meta Office in Peru: will it be useful against extortion?

Carlo de Los Santos La Sernaformer vice minister of communications, was clear when he assured that in Peru there is no innovation or reengineering, “not even in the academic structure”: “in (the prison) Castro Castro we find antennas, WiFi frequencies and many apartments without a view of the street, with concrete blocks, garages that cross the buildings.”

Likewise, he compared Chile’s strategy with that carried out in Peru, in the first the cell phones are not removed, in our country they are “as if that were going to cut off communication. Today, the chip is electronic or virtual, just bring one from abroad and the control is over. From 2025 we start working with the American serviceas well as joint collaboration with entities such as the Police, the Prosecutor’s Office, among others,” he revealed.

De Los Santos is convinced that a very helpful tool to combat this type of crime is have a Meta office in Peru: “We need a confused office here, because they have enormous power to decipher messages: with the algorithm you detect from where and when the message was sent. That is pending work, I hope it will continue. We have just signed an artificial intelligence pact with the United States, the only thing missing is the inclusion of Meta. With this there will be no need to cut any chip,” he explained.

Who is in charge: the State or the private company?

Manuel Ciprianoan expert in telecommunications and digital law, comments that prisons have not prevented organized crime from continuing its activities, because the legislation had to include blocking signals, geolocation of equipment and cutting off service. But not only that, because according to Resolution No. 000139-2025-CD/OSIPTEL, telecommunications companies are obliged to monitor, geolocate and block equipment that performs functions unrelated to their activity and concession contracts.

“The Ministry of Justice and the INPE are the governing bodies of prison securitywith legal power to acquire technology and execute the security policy. For its part, article 3 of Supreme Decree No. 008-2025-MTC orders to finance the entire implementation with the budget of the MTC and OSIPTEL, without charging the cost to the private sector. While in terms of inter-institutional coordination, it is the INPE that coordinates with the National Police, the Judiciary, the Public Ministry and the National Intelligence System to guarantee prison security.”

However, when it breaks down the functions of the private company in this regard, it tells us that, according to DL No. 1328, article 5, the service must be cut off if the State determines it, “block equipment under criteria and procedures approved by OSIPTEL, but also report in a timely manner to the relevant authorities.”

Likewise, it tells us that They are not the responsibility of the private sector.: assume penitentiary security as its own function, finance equipment, software or surveillance infrastructure, nor replace the INPE or Ministry of Justice in the conduct of penitentiary policy: “shifting the burden to companies has no legal basis,” he argues.

The commitment of private companies

On this point, the president of AFIN, Juan Pachecoreiterated the will of his sector to strengthen support for the authorities to fight crime from the aspect of technology:

“We need to work together in a space where we can exchange ideas and propose solutions that focus on this technological advance, because what we normally do is try to face this task with rules that are constantly modified, do not work well, have to be adjusted and in the end do not achieve the objective. It is necessary to understand the business of crime,” he indicated.

Likewise, Pacheco expressed that the private sector’s job is to support, but not replace or fulfill, the functions that correspond to the PNP, the INPE or the Public Ministry in their fight against crime.

“There are things that the private sector can do, but others cannot, since it is up to the authority. We must provide them with tools, technology and everything that is required for this task. Our proposal is that we have a space. There is complete willingness of the private sector to collaborate“The main objective is for Peru to be better prepared, better focused on the task of confronting this scourge.”