U.S. Justice Department Slaps Massive Charges on Five Alleged Criminals Who Cooked Fraud Scheme That Robbed Thousands of Americans $400,000,000+: Report
A powerful Mexican cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), has orchestrated a massive fraud that stole hundreds of millions from senior citizens through fake timeshare investments.
Federal prosecutors have brought charges against five of its leaders for the scheme along with drug and weapons violations, reports NY Post.
The group promised victims profits from Mexican properties but demanded repeated upfront payments for taxes and fees before escalating to threats of arrest from impersonators posing as lawyers and cartel figures.
Call centers ran the operation between 2019 and 2023 and extracted over $400 million from more than 6,000 Americans, many of them elderly.
One victim paid hundreds of thousands of dollars across eight years after an initial $179,000 purchase.
According to the U.S. Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva,
“The scheme morphed and continued, with the fraudsters even claiming that the victims actually paid a cartel and would be arrested if they did not pay more, which they did. One particular victim, an 83-year-old individual, an American who bought a timeshare many years ago for $179,000, was duped at each level of this phase. He paid advance fees to begin with. He fell for fake real estate websites and title companies. He was victimized again by attorneys who sent their bar information and fake websites, who claimed that they could get his money back. Of course they were impersonators and they could not.”
The cartel relies on violence and intimidation to control fentanyl imports into the United States.
These actions form part of wider enforcement efforts that have contributed to a 22 percent drop in fentanyl overdose deaths.
The State Department offers rewards reaching $100 million for information leading to the capture of cartel leaders.
Previous government actions have sanctioned networks tied to the same fraud in areas like Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where the cartel has long operated.
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