Timeshare scams are on the rise
(Image credit: Alfredo Estrella / AFP via Getty Images)
There has been a long-documented history of Mexican drug cartels preying on unsuspecting tourists, resulting in violence, kidnappings and sometimes deaths. But in recent years, one cartel has turned its attention toward an unconventional method of scamming tourists by targeting people that own Mexican timeshares.
Both the U.S. Treasury Department and the FBI have sent out bulletins warning of a widespread timeshare scam being perpetrated by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The cartel, based in the namesake Mexican state of Jalisco, “generates substantial revenue for its multi-faceted criminal enterprise through its timeshare fraud network,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a press release. News of CJNG’s operation first began making the rounds in 2023 but has been going on for much longer — over the past five years, the cartel has scammed timeshare owners out of $288 million, according to the FBI.
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