JACKSON, Miss. (WLOX) — Behind secure doors at the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, state investigators are engaged in an escalating digital arms race against high-tech syndicates and online predators.The Attorney General’s Office manages both the State’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the Mississippi Cyber Fraud Task Force (MS CFTF).(WLOX)Attorney General Lynn Fitch led a tour of the state’s Cyber Crime Lab on Tuesday, offering an inside look at how state investigators are utilizing specialized forensics tools, custom hardware, and elite detection dogs to combat digital crime syndicates operating across Mississippi.During the tour of the Digital Forensics Lab Unit, state investigators demonstrated specialized extraction techniques and walked through case studies spanning emerging cyber threats — including cryptocurrency scams, business email compromise, ATM jackpotting, skimmers, “SMiSHing” text schemes, artificial intelligence, and child exploitation CyberTips.“In here, [investigators] can preserve evidence and prosecute cases and put bad guys in jail,” said Nick Sprowles, an investigator with the Cyber Fraud Task Force. “That’s what it’s all about.”Cyber Fraud Investigator Nick Sprowles demonstrating how a credit card skimmer works.(WLOX)Millions in Fraud at the Checkout CounterMuch of Sprowles’ casework centers on point-of-sale skimming hardware designed to silently harvest customer data at store checkout terminals. The devices fit flush over legitimate payment hardware without alerting shoppers or cashiers.“They just slide this on, and it looks stock to the machine and no one knows the difference,” Sprowles said, holding up a skimmer recovered from a Walmart terminal. “There’s a module on here that stores all the data. The bad actor will need to get in close proximity with an Android device. And they’ll remote connect to these and pull the payload and go on to the next one. They can leave these on a terminal for months.”The Attorney General’s Office has seized more than 50 skimmers and says each one can generate a million dollars worth of fraud.(WLOX)While the skimmer captures magnetic stripe data, hidden micro-cameras capture customers entering their PINs. Attorney General Lynn Fitch says a single skimmer can facilitate up to $1 million in fraud. The Attorney General’s Office alone has seized approximately 50 such devices in recent years.The fraud frequently ties back to sophisticated international rings. Sprowles noted that overlay skimming operations heavily involve foreign nationals, including organized Romanian groups.“I worked a case recently where we had a Mexican national working with a Frenchman working with a Venezuelan,” Sprowles said.A wall of mugshots showing criminals arrested during cyber fraud investigations.(WLOX)Cracking Encrypted Hard Drives in Under a MinuteAdjacent to the fraud lab, digital forensics investigators demonstrated techniques used to crack password-protected and encrypted electronics seized during search warrants.Using custom hardware built in-house, investigators can bypass safeguards on locked systems once considered impenetrable. Demonstrating on a locked computer donated from a Secret Service case, Cyber Crime Division investigator Jamie White showed how quickly agents can breach security barriers.“It takes about 45 seconds or so,” White said. “It will decrypt the password, then we’re able to get in and bypass security features.”Digital Forensics Investigator Jamie White holding a custom built device that cracks computer passwords within 60 seconds.(WLOX)The Nose That Finds Hidden DrivesBefore agents can extract digital evidence, they have to locate it. In many cases, suspects hide memory cards, thumb drives, and hard drives inside walls, clothing, or furniture.To uncover concealed hardware, the division demonstrated the capabilities of TracE, the Attorney General’s Office’s 3-year-old electronic storage device (ESD) detection K9. The Labrador is specially trained to detect the unique chemical compounds present in electronic storage media.K9 Trace is a 3-year-old Labrador.(WLOX)“She has this sense with her nose that can pick up on devices,” said K9 Handler Angela Williams.TracE’s detections have led to critical evidence seizures in cases ranging from financial fraud to child sexual abuse material.K9 Tracer and her handler Angela Williams demonstrating the dog’s detection ability.(WLOX)AI and the Changing Face of Digital ExploitationInvestigative hurdles are growing steeper as artificial intelligence tools become widely accessible to criminals, according to Charlie Rubisoff, deputy director of the Cyber Crime Division.“We are seeing AI being employed more and more often by our criminals,” Rubisoff said. “This landscape is changing almost on a daily basis for us.”Cyber Crime Division Deputy Director Charlie Rubisoff discussing breakthroughs in investigative techniques used to hunt down child predators online.(WLOX)Rubisoff pointed to an influx of third-party applications capable of generating non-consensual explicit images, including child sexual abuse material. Troublingly, several of these so-called “nudification” apps have bypassed mobile store filters, appearing on mainstream Google and Apple marketplaces with age ratings as low as 4 and older.While the division has made technical breakthroughs to identify and track illicit digital content across Mississippi, Rubisoff emphasized that technology alone cannot solve the problem.“This is very much a community effort,” Rubisoff said. “This is something where we need to see engagement with families making sure devices in the hands of children are being monitored responsibly.”See a spelling or grammar error in this story? Report it to our team HERE. Copyright 2026 WLOX. All rights reserved.
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