This paper is inspired by a phenomenon that was a turning point in the history of the armed conflict in Colombia. Between 2002 and 2008, members of the Armed Forces killed and disappeared a large number of civilians in order to obtain monetary compensations from the Colombian State. These events are known as "false positives". However, this concept presents certain linguistic and legal difficulties in translation. In order to identify the difficulties and propose the most appropriate translation as a category of International Humanitarian Law, we analyze different reports published by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court originally in English and their translation into Spanish in the context of the preliminary examination in Colombia as a phase prior to the determination of the jurisdiction of that court for the prosecution of those responsible for false positives.