- Mexican cartels are using timeshare scams to target elderly Americans and scam them out of more than $300 million.
- According to the FBI, the cartels are using call centers and cyber tactics to carry out sophisticated fraudulent schemes.
- According to the FBI, cartels often conduct “extensive research on potential victims” before carrying out their scams.
Even Mexican drug cartels appear to be making money from online fraud, currently the most lucrative criminal activity.
According to the FBI, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Gulf Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel, which El Chapo formerly led, all engaged in online fraud.
Their favorite scam appears to be timeshare scams, which primarily target older Americans and have resulted in more than $300 million being defrauded over the past five years.
A timeshare is a vacation home where multiple people share ownership. They purchase a period of time in the property each year, usually on a long-term or lifetime basis.
“Timeshare scammers seek to siphon money from their victims with devastating consequences for their financial futures, relationships and physical and mental well-being,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Paul Roberts, head of the FBI's New York Field Complex Financial Crimes Section, in a statement.
“As the cartels continue to exert greater control over this sector, it is especially important that the FBI take the lead in addressing this threat to older Americans,” he added.
The FBI says the main group behind the timeshare fraud is the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, but other groups are likely using independent call centers to carry out the scams.
The agency said the cartels create false documents and conduct “extensive research on potential victims” before contacting them through fake email accounts.
“Throughout the fraud process, scammers combine high-pressure sales tactics with cyber-enabled deception tactics, such as mimicking email addresses from legitimate organizations and forging official documents, to trick victims into believing each step of the scam is legitimate,” Roberts said.
According to the FBI, timeshare scams often go unreported because victims either don't realize they're being scammed or are afraid to come forward.
“There's nothing shameful about being a victim of this kind of fraud,” Roberts said. “The worst mistake people can make is to suffer in silence for fear of embarrassment or blame.”
Roberts says the biggest signs to look out for when avoiding timeshare scams are never paying the upfront fee and never giving out power of attorney.
Never contact anyone claiming to be a government official. Roberts said they have also been asked about timeshare settlements, threatened with arrest if they don't pay, and threatened with subpoenas to appear in courts outside the United States.
It's notoriously difficult to recover money stolen from criminals in online scams. If you've been a victim of financial fraud, the Federal Trade Commission recommends contacting any banks, credit cards, or money transfer services you used to try to recover your funds.
The FTC encourages you to report known timeshare scams to the FTC's website, to the Attorney General of the state where the crime occurred, and to the Better Business Bureau. To report a timeshare or vacation club scam to the FTC, click here.
