The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned multiple Mexican accountants and companies on July 16 that the agency said are linked both directly and indirectly to a timeshare fraud led by the violent Jalisco New Generation drug cartel.
All of the individuals and entities are located in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, which serves as a “strategic stronghold” for CJNG’s drug trafficking and other illicit activities, OFAC said.
As a result of the sanctions, all properties belonging to the accountants and companies that are located in the United States or controlled by U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.
Any entities in which the accountants hold 50 percent ownership or more are also blocked under the sanctions, the financial intelligence and enforcement agency said.
Additionally, all transactions conducted by U.S. persons or from within the United States that involve any property belonging to the sanctioned individuals are blocked.
‘Complex and Yearslong Schemes’
The group also operates call centers in Mexico where scammers impersonate U.S.-based third-party timeshare brokers, attorneys, or sales representatives, the department said.Those scammers target and defraud American owners of timeshares in Mexico through “complex and often yearslong” telemarketing, impersonation, advance fee schemes, and investment scams, among other things, according to OFAC.
Often, the scammers then retarget the same victims by pretending to be U.S.-based law firms and U.S., Mexican, and international authorities, it said.
Many of the victims end up losing money—albeit unwittingly—to the scammers through wire transfers sent by U.S. correspondent banks to Mexican shell companies with accounts at Mexican banks or brokerage houses, according to OFAC.
Those shell companies are controlled by cartel members, their family members, or third-party money launderers such as accountants, the agency said.
OFAC coordinated with the Mexican government to issue the sanctions against the three Mexican accountants and four Mexican companies.
Americans Must Stay Alert to Scams
In a statement, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian E. Nelson said cartel fraudsters run “sophisticated teams of professionals who seem perfectly normal on paper or on the phone” but who are actually “money launderers expertly trained in scamming U.S. citizens.”Mr. Nelson warned that unsolicited calls and emails that seem legitimate are likely the work of cartel-supported criminals.
“If something seems too good to be true, it probably is,” he said. “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.”
Elsewhere on July 16, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a notice to financial institutions informing them of timeshare fraud schemes in Mexico that are associated with CJNG and other Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations.
The notice was issued jointly with OFAC and the FBI.
According to the FBI, approximately 6,000 victims in the United States reported losing nearly $300 million between 2019 and 2023 to timeshare fraud schemes in Mexico.
However, the agency stated that the figure is likely higher as many victims do not report the losses to the agency.
