Eight young employees of a call center in Mexico were confirmed dead Tuesday, victims of a violent drug cartel involved in a real estate scam targeting Americans. The tragic news comes following reports from family members who had reported the youths missing after failing to return from work.
A Grisly Discovery and the Unmasking of a Scam
The horrifying reality emerged when mutilated body parts, dumped in plastic bags, were discovered in the vicinity of Guadalajara. Forensic examiners from Jalisco, a western state of Mexico, confirmed on Monday that the remains belonged to the missing call center employees.
The victims, six men and two women, vanished between May 20 and May 22. While their families believed they were employed by a standard call center, they were unknowingly entangled with the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), renowned as Mexico’s most violent criminal organization.
The CJNG has been revealed to operate call centers defrauding Americans and Canadians with fraudulent timeshare offers. An anonymous U.S. official suggested the gruesome fate of the victims was a result of their attempts to quit their jobs at the cartel-run center.
The Violent Tactics of the CJNG
The anonymous official revealed that the cartel was probably “sending a message to other defectors,” pointing out that similar incidents had occurred in the past. The CJNG, known for its ruthless reprisals against perceived traitors or informants, seems to operate under an unwritten rule: the only exit from the gang is either death or prison.
According to the activist group “Por Amor a Ellxs” or “For Love of Them,” there are approximately 15,000 people missing in Jalisco, contributing to a nationwide total of about 112,000 missing individuals.
Timeshare Fraud Under Investigation
The scam came to light in April when the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against associates of the CJNG who were running a similar operation in Puerto Vallarta, a Pacific coast resort located in Jalisco state, the cartel’s stronghold.
The U.S. under secretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brian E. Nelson, acknowledged the significant revenue stream provided by this scam, stating, “CJNG’s deep involvement in timeshare fraud in the Puerto Vallarta area and elsewhere, which often targets elderly U.S. citizens and can defraud victims of their life savings, is an important revenue stream supporting the group’s overall criminal enterprise.”
The fraudulent activity involved contacting individuals seeking to sell timeshares in Puerto Vallarta properties. Prospective sellers received emails from scammers claiming to have interested buyers, but requiring upfront payment for taxes or fees. Once these were paid, the deals dissolved. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received over 600 complaints in 2022, with estimated losses amounting to approximately $39.6 million.
