The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned four individuals and thirteen Puerto Vallarta-based companies linked to timeshare fraud led by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Three of the individuals are high-ranking members of the CJNG, whose leader is Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho”:
Julio César Montero Pinzón
Carlos Andrés Rivera Varela
Francisco Javier Gudiño Haro
“These three individuals have also been part of a CJNG repression group based in Puerto Vallarta that orchestrates the assassinations of rivals and politicians with high-caliber weapons,” the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) stated.
The other sanctioned individual is Michael Ibarra Díaz Jr., a Puerto Vallarta native and tourism entrepreneur who has been selling and managing timeshares in the region and northern Nayarit for over 20 years.
Ibarra has a background in accounting, “which is consistent with the CJNG’s use of professionals to carry out this complex and highly lucrative scheme,” OFAC adds.
Which companies are associated with the CJNG?
The companies involved in the timeshare fraud led by the CJNG are:
Akali Realtors: a timeshare company
Centro Mediador de la Costa, SA de CV: a timeshare company
Corporativo Integral de la Costa, SA de CV: a timeshare company
Corporativo Costa Norte, SA de CV: a timeshare company
Sunmex Travel, S. de RL De CV: a timeshare company
TTR Go, SA de CV: a travel agency
Inmobiliaria Integral Del Puerto, SA de CV: a real estate company
KVY Bucerias, SA de CV: a real estate company
Servicios Inmobiliarios Ibadi, SA de CV: a real estate company
Fishing Are Us, S. de RL de CV: a tour operator
Santamaria Cruise, S. de RL de CV: a tour operator
Laminado Profesional Automotriz Elte, SA de CV: automotive services company
Consultorias Profesionales Almida, SA de CV: accounting firm
“These 13 companies are being sanctioned pursuant to EO 14059 and EO 13224, as amended, for being owned, controlled, or directed by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Ibarra,” OFAC stated.
What is the CJNG timeshare scam?
Timeshare fraud is a complex network that primarily defrauds U.S. citizens who own timeshares (the right to use a property for a specific period of time) in Mexican tourist destinations, promising to buy the service, but demanding money in return.
Cartels, like the CJNG, obtain information about these citizens and speak to them in English from their call centers to supposedly purchase the timeshare, but first demand money upfront.
When they provide the initial amounts, in some cases, they are asked to provide more money in the form of additional “fees” or “taxes” in order to obtain their money. But the matter becomes more complicated when the scammers pose as lawyers and promise to recover the money they already paid in exchange for another payment.
In other cases, they also pose as government officials and demand fines from victims, accusing them of making suspicious transactions, to avoid imprisonment.
“According to the FBI, approximately 6,000 US victims reported losses of nearly $300 million between 2019 and 2023 due to timeshare fraud in Mexico,” OFAC states.
The Treasury Department says the CJNG’s main source of income is drug trafficking, but it also generates money through huachicol, extortion, and timeshare fraud, among other activities.
Source: radioformula
