Are Senior Citizens Becoming the Drug of Choice for Mexican Cartels?

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Microsoft Image Creator

In the past few years, I've written a number of posts about scams used to dupe the public out of their hard-earned money.  Some of the cons were simplicity itself, while others were quite sophisticated. While some of these swindles had been perpetrated by individuals, others employed a tag team approach. However, when an organization with thousands of criminal members takes over vast call centers to bilk senior citizens out of hundreds of millions of dollars per year, this takes the con to a whole new level.  In order to level the playing field, I'm going to describe one of the world's most sophisticated con jobs ever perpetrated on the American public by a Mexican cartel more usually associated with the production and distribution of illicit drugs.  

The New York Times recently reported that the Jalisco New Generation cartel came up with a new way to line their pockets by scamming senior citizens living in the US.  They discovered that conning the elderly out of their retirement funds was less risky and more profitable than running drugs or human trafficking.  Just how profitable is this new business?  The FBI estimates that from 2018-2023 nearly $300 million was bilked from US citizens.  Yet until recently, most of us didn't even know this con was on.

While a variety of news organizations point out on a daily basis how South of the border cartels move vast quantities of drugs and immigrants across the border into the US, very little was mentioned about other money making ventures these same cartels have initiated.  For instance, I learned in 2022 that some Mexican cartels began extorting money from avocado and lime growers there.  Recently I heard that they've started shaking down local trucking companies, tortilla shops, fishermen and other small business owners that call Mexico home.  While mob shakedowns are nothing new there or here, the Jalisco cartel's latest venture most definitely is.  What's even worse is that they've been able to extend their reach to North America without ever leaving home.

Timeshare to Nowhere

By the time a person reaches retirement age, there are things many of them have invested in that they wish to sell off.  Unfortunately, if they bought a timeshare, it isn't all that easy to unload one.  That's because if you invest in a timeshare, all you really own is a block of time.  Plus, you're required by the management company to keep on paying maintenance fees for as long as you own the timeshare.  That doesn't mean you can't sell your interest in a timeshare, provided the price is right and you can find a willing buyer.  

Image courtesy Microsoft Image Creator

That's where the Jalisco carted came up with the idea of swindling owners by posing as buyers of timeshare properties.  The con was quite simple.  The cartel acquired lists of people in the US who had timeshares in Mexico.  According to the NY Times, the cartel even bribed employees at Mexican timeshare resorts to cough up information on guests who visited there from the US and Canada.  Cartel members operating out of call centers would contact timeshare owners to tell them that they had a buyer interested in purchasing their timeshare for a tidy profit.  Then the trap was set.

If the offer aroused any suspicions on the part of the victims, they would be directed to the company website which was impressive looking.  Even the legal documents sent to timeshare owners would stand up to legal scrutiny.  Cartel "sales agents" had also been extensively trained to answer any questions and to allay any fears that a potential victim might have.  If everything looked good, the agent in Mexico would then inform the seller that all they had to do to consummate the sale was to pay a few legal fees and Mexican taxes to complete the deal.  The amount could be anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars.  Assured that the payoff would be much larger than the fees, all too many retirees fell for the scam only to lose the front money.

But the scam didn't stop there.  A few months later, the victim would receive a call that purportedly came from a victim defense organization in Mexico.  They'd tell the victim that after police raided a local call center, their name and information was recovered.  The victim would then be told that a class action lawsuit was being initiated and they were asked if they would like to participate.  All they had to do was cough up a few legal fees.  Seeing a light at the end of the tunnel that could make them whole again, many of those who were scammed jumped at the chance.  As time wore on, the lawyer who was handling the suit would call to tell them that the case was dragging on, requiring more funds to keep the court case going.  

Needless to say, while the victim defense organization was legitimate, the lawsuit was not. Any legal fees paid went right into the coffers of the Jalisco cartel.  In the end, some victims were scammed out of far more money than their timeshare was worth.  How much more?  One victim, who was a retired financial consultant, was talked into coughing up more than $1 million.  Bear in mind, this particular victim smelled a rat and called their bluff early on when he realized the sale was a scam.  It was the rebound pitch that wound up taking him to the cleaners.

Image courtesy Microsoft Image Creator

What's even more galling is that there is precious little that victims of the scam can do, since the FBI can't cross the border to intervene unless they get the cooperation of local authorities.  Any US law firm hoping to file a lawsuit on behalf of victims would have to retain a licensed lawyer in Mexico.  So, the score is Cartel $288,000,000 & victims 0.  

One of the more outrageous variations on the scam occur when a "US real estate agent" called potential victims to tell them that they have a wealthy Mexican buyer interested in purchasing their timeshare.  Like the original variant, the victims are told that all it would take to transact the deal was a few thousand dollars in fees for cross-border transactions.  The difference was that once this occurred, the seller would soon learn that they were being fined for various violations that could result in their being extradited to Mexico for prosecution.  In order to prevent this from happening, one couple from Atlanta wound up wiring more than $900,000 to various bank accounts in Mexico.  The Times reported, "Even though the Mexican Central Bank knows that timeshare fraud was being committed in its name, all it did was warn people from falling for the scam." 

To add insult to injury, the Atlanta victims who lost $900,000 received a desperate plea from an alleged associate of the "lawyer" who was supposedly representing him in Mexico.

"Please do everything you can to get my boss back home.  He misses his family so much and you're the only one he has for this to be resolved.  The pending amount to be paid for his release is $157,786.61."

The victim admitted to the reporter that he considered taking out a second mortgage to secure the lawyer's release until his daughters stopped him.

If you know any retirees, inform them of this scam,which will no doubt continue to evolve into other forms of elder fraud.  If your parents are retired, tell them not to consummate any deals that involve a wire transfer unless they first consult with you.  Since the authorities seem to be unable or unwilling to lift a finger to help the victims of such crimes, once the funds have been transmitted they are gone for good.  

Catherine Powell is the owner of A Plus All Florida, Insurance in Orange Park, Florida.  To find out more ways to save on flood insurance, check out her website at http://aplusallfloridainsuranceinc.com/