The Chihuahua District Attorney’s Office, Central Zone, warned of an increase in scams targeting out-of-state students at the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, who are looking for accommodation in the state capital and are being deceived into paying deposits for the supposed rental of properties.
At a press conference, District Attorney Heliodoro Araiza Reyes explained that these types of crimes are committed through the use of technology, which is why it is important for people to understand the modus operandi and share the information with as many contacts as possible.
He noted that these scams consist of criminals offering apartments, houses, or hotel rooms for rent at a very attractive price and requesting between 2,000 and 5,000 pesos as a deposit to reserve the property, even though they are not the owners.
He warned that the offenders manipulate their victims’ emotions by insisting that there is supposedly an urgent need to reserve the rental.
“The most important thing is not to allow them to convey that sense of urgency, because most of these scams are fundamentally based on the demand to reserve an apartment, under the pretext that otherwise it will be rented to other interested people.”
For her part, Alicia Márquez Sausameda, coordinator of the Specialized Unit for the Investigation of Cybercrime, reported that they currently have 29 complaints filed regarding this type of crime.
She highlighted that, as part of the investigations, and in coordination with the Municipal Police, they carried out two searches on Thursday, August 27, during which four cell phones, a USB flash drive, several documents, and two modem devices were seized.
They also obtained two arrest warrants from the Morelos Judicial District’s Control Judge, which are in the process of being executed through the arrest of those possibly responsible for these cyber fraud schemes.
She commented that investigators have observed that, in this modus operandi, scammers display an INE voter identification card through social media, which turns out to have been stolen. “So even if they send you a document, verify that the person you are communicating with is actually the person shown on the identification.”
To prevent more students from falling victim to scams, the Chihuahua District Attorney’s Office and the Autonomous University of Chihuahua launched the joint campaign “Stop, Verify and Protect Yourself,” which encourages people to consider whether rental offers are genuine, verify that both the property and the advertiser’s identity are legitimate, and avoid making deposits without being certain that both conditions have been confirmed.
Source: jornada
