(The Center Square) A retired law enforcement officer and veteran lost $900,000 after he answered a call from a company that told him they could help sell his Lake Tahoe timeshare property.
The call came from a call center in Mexico run by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and the veteran’s story isn’t an isolated incident.
The FBI reported a significant increase in scams targeting timeshare owners last year. The cartel-backed fraud continues to ensnare Americans, especially elderly residents with timeshare property in Mexico.
“Timeshare fraudsters aim to suck their victims dry, with devastating consequences to victims’ financial futures, relationships, and physical and emotional health,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Paul Roberts, who leads FBI New York’s Complex Financial Crimes Branch.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, and the Sinaloa Cartel have been running timeshare fraud schemes for more than a decade. Most of the properties they target are in Mexico, Roberts said.
“Cartel fraudsters run sophisticated teams of professionals who seem perfectly normal on paper or on the phone – but in reality, they’re money launderers expertly trained in scamming U.S. citizens,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson.
More than a decade ago, the late Mexican attorney and businessman Omar Aguirre Barragan learned about timeshare schemes from Puerto Vallarta-based fraudsters, including Americans. In 2012, Aguirre taught CJNG members about the scams. Eventually, CJNG took control and cut out Aguirre, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, which has sanctioned companies and people who participate in such scams.
The U.S. sanctions cut the companies and their owners off from the U.S. financial system.
“Unsolicited calls and emails may seem legitimate, but they’re actually made by cartel-supported criminals. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Treasury and our partners are deploying all tools available to disrupt this nefarious activity, which funds things like deadly drug trafficking and human smuggling, and we encourage the public to use our resources to stay vigilant against these threats,” Nelson said.
The scams disproportionately impact wealthy, older Americans who want to recoup some of the money they spent on their timeshares, according to the FBI.
The veteran who lost $900,000 to such scammers shared his story with an AARP podcast. He declined to share his name out of fear of the cartel.
Many such crimes go unreported because the victims are embarrassed.
About 6,000 U.S. residents reported nearly $300 million in losses between 2019 and 2023 to timeshare fraud schemes in Mexico, according to reports from the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Federal Trade Commission Consumer Sentinel Network Database. According to the FBI, this figure likely underestimates the total losses. An estimated 80% of victims choose not to report the scam due to embarrassment, lack of resources, or other reasons, according to a 2024 federal fraud notice.
Sometimes the scammers get away, but some have been caught and sentenced.
In 2019, six Mexican nationals were indicted in connection with an elaborate timeshare scheme. The conspirators called resort timeshare property owners to get them to pay fees associated with the bogus sale of their property.
The scammers claimed they had buyers for their timeshares and asked for money from the victims to make the sales go through. They got the owners to sign agreements to sell their timeshares and pay for “closing costs.” But there were no buyers, the closings didn’t happen, and the timeshares weren’t resold. Instead, the conspirators stole the fees.
Of the U.S. victims, 40 were age 60 and older. The total estimated loss was at least $10 million. Some of the scammers got prison time and were required to pay restitution.
