US sanctions cartel-affiliated timeshare scammers in Puerto Vallarta

As portion of a large crackdown connected timeshare fraud successful Mexico linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) connected Wednesday sanctioned 4 Mexican nationals and 13 Mexican companies allegedly progressive with fraud astatine resorts successful Puerto Vallarta.

The CJNG, a almighty cause trafficking cartel designated by the U.S. authorities arsenic a overseas violent organization, allegedly leads the scams. The sanctions are portion of a broader run against the financing of violent and transgression activities from Mexico, targeting their non-drug gross streams specified arsenic substance theft, quality smuggling, extortion and fraud.

Oficina de Control de Bienes de Extranjeros (OFAC) sanciona a personas y empresas 🇲🇽 vinculadas con fraudes de tiempo compartido perpetrados por violento cártel que ahora complementa sus ganancias con estos fraudes y robo de combustible. #SegurosJuntos https://t.co/w59zG321pH https://t.co/n9Gne7LDTn pic.twitter.com/Qh5cEG1NLr

— Embajada EU en Mex (@USEmbassyMEX) August 13, 2025

“We are coming for violent cause cartels similar Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion that are flooding our state with fentanyl,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said successful a statement. “These cartels proceed to make caller ways to make gross to substance their violent operations. At President Trump’s direction, we volition proceed our effort to wholly eradicate the cartels’ quality to make revenue, including their efforts to prey connected aged Americans done timeshare fraud.”

The Treasury calls connected existent owners of timeshares successful Mexico to enactment vigilant. “If an unsolicited acquisition oregon rental connection seems excessively bully to beryllium true, it astir apt is,” Treasury said.

This isn’t the archetypal clip the OFAC has sanctioned those linked, straight oregon indirectly, to the CJNG’s fraudulent activities. Similar actions occurred in  2023 and 2024.

The timeshare fraud that the CJNG uses successful tourer destinations similar Puerto Vallarta often targets U.S. citizens, peculiarly seniors, who are contacted by telephone centers posing arsenic existent property agents, lawyers oregon representatives of U.S. companies. Cartels “generally get accusation astir U.S. owners of timeshares successful Mexico from complicit insiders astatine timeshare resorts,” the FBI said.

The fraud typically involves the unfortunate paying “fees” oregon “advance taxes” with the committedness of receiving funds from the expected merchantability oregon rental of their timeshare. The wealth ne'er arrives, and consumers are often asked to wage much to resoluteness fictitious problems.

After the archetypal fraud, consumers whitethorn acquisition “revictimization” scams, wherever different criminals airs arsenic lawyers oregon officials who committedness to retrieve the mislaid wealth successful speech for further sums.

Some 7,000 U.S. victims mislaid astir US $350 cardinal to timeshare scams successful Mexico betwixt 2019 and 2024. However, the FBI believes these figures don’t bespeak the full losses, arsenic galore victims bash not study scams owed to embarrassment.

With reports from Fox News and UPI