![]() They also are known for their business acumen and ability to diversify their revenue streams.Īs with their well-oiled drug trafficking operations, the cartel turned defrauding American citizens with timeshares into a science. The Jalisco cartel is known for its brutality, with regular headlines across Mexico documenting beheadings, torture and deadly gunbattles against Mexican military forces. Ruthless, entrepreneurial cartel perfects the timeshare scheme One was sentenced to five years in prison, one four years, and two got 18 months. Four of the six – including the head of the company and an accountant – have been arrested and convicted. ![]() ![]() Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, which indicted six Mexican men for defrauding dozens of Americans out of $20 million. One of the most prominent cases was brought in 2019 by the U.S. ”That’s evidence that the fraud schemes are growing.” “What we’re seeing here is an increase in the number of complaints,” said FBI Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle. And more people are reporting timeshare fraud every year. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has received an average of 1,400 complaints per year, related to timeshare fraud from Mexico, over the past five years. Treasury Department has sanctioned 40 Mexican companies associated with the Jalisco cartel and its telemarketing scam. More: 'I made a bad decision': Texas police recruit secretly helped arm Mexican drug cartels “The overhead is really low for this.”įew of the telemarketing firms have been criminally charged, partly because the business shape-shifts, abandoning shell companies and bank accounts as authorities identify them, then quickly creating new ones. “It’s more cash in hand than they make from drugs,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. government official estimated the fraud from Mexico-based companies at hundreds of millions of dollars a year. “The victims are limitless.”īased on their investigation, a U.S. “You have these people that are desperate,” said Brian Rogers, head of consumer advocacy nonprofit, called Timeshare Users Group, which provides information on how to avoid scams. owners of property in those two cities, as well as other areas popular with North American retirees, including Acapulco.īuying into a few weeks of a condo is seemingly hawked on every corner in many Mexican resort towns, and people on vacation buy in, only to find later that they’re paying for time they don’t use and are looking to sell. It has expanded the fraud network to at least two dozen call centers that contact U.S. ![]() The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, commonly known as CJNG, started its timeshare fraud business in Puerto Vallarta and has now largely taken over the Cancún timeshare market as well. government officials believe, now rival the business it is most known for: drug trafficking. In timeshares, the cartel has found a business venture whose profits, U.S. More: Washington cop forced into hiding after cartel-backed drug ring plotted his murderĪccording to a U.S, government investigation, over the past decade, thousands of Americans – many of them elderly – have fallen prey to a complex scheme involving one of Mexico’s most violent cartels. “I kept thinking the next person was going to help me get out of it.” “It’s almost like an addiction,” said Stephen, who asked that only his first name be used because he doesn’t want his employer to know. Looking back, that was the first sign that he was getting duped by a telemarketing scam, one that would end up costing him nearly $1.8 million as he tried time and again to sell his timeshare. The telemarketer’s call seemed fortuitous.īut there was one catch: Stephen – then 54 – would have to first cover a Mexican federal tax of $3,900 that would be held in escrow, and credited back to him when the deal closed. As they grew older and joined sports teams, there was less and less time for family vacations. He had originally bought two weeks a year so his children could spend time near the ocean.
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