Californian man, 76, scammed out of almost $1million by CANNIBAL Mexican cartel ... trends now
When James, 76, received a call from an estate agent in Atlanta, Georgia, offering to buy his timeshare, he could have bitten his hand off.
James and his wife Nicki, 72, had bought the property in Lake Tahoe, California, in the mid 90s for just shy of $9,000, but only stayed there twice in the last 20 years.
The agent gave a slick pitch and a few days later called back with 'good news': he had found a Mexican investor willing to part with upwards of $22,000 for the West Coast retreat.
Around six months later, James and Nicki had lost almost $1million as part of a bizarre but sophisticated scam allegedly linked to a deadly Mexican cartel.
And they are not alone. Similar schemes have reportedly netted organized gang the Jalisco New Generation hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade as the ruthless criminals prey upon elderly American timeshare owners desperate to offload their assets.
James, 76, and Nicki, 72, from California, were scammed out of almost $1million by a deadly Mexican cartel who made a fraudulent offer for their timeshare in Lake Tahoe
The heavily-militarized Jalisco New Generation cartel is primarily known for drug trafficking, but has also scammed American timeshare owners out of millions of dollars in recent years
The cartel concocted fake bank statements, such as this one purporting to be from the Bank of Mexico, to convince James of the scheme's credibility
The elaborate scams are an unexpected twist for Mexico's most dangerous gangsters, who are better known for drug trafficking and occasionally cannibalizing their victims.
But as James' story reveals, organized crime requires administrative acumen, too.
Fake Mexican intelligence agents, fraudulent Bank of Mexico statements, escrow companies based in Manhattan and domain names registered as far away as Reykjavik, Iceland, were all involved in duping the Californian out of his entire life savings.
At the end of it all, James and dozens of other Americans are left scratching their heads as to how they could have been robbed of so much cash.
It began with a phone call in October 2022. A man named Michael called from a supposed realtor called Worry Free Vacations in Atlanta.
'He was good at ingratiating himself,' James told DailyMail.com. 'He had an air of confidence. I thought "this guy's legit".'
In hindsight, he may have had a slight accent, possibly Mexican, James recalls, but it barely registered at the time.
Michael had wealthy clients who wanted to invest in US timeshares and James had four, with one, in Lake Tahoe, that he was keen to offload.
A few days after James was told of the Mexican investor, Michael called back. He had 'ran into a little bit of a thing'.
A fee of $2,600 was required for the cross border transaction, but the buyer had promised to cover this.
James, who did not want to share his last name, admitted his wife had concerns about this deal from the get-go.
But he was reassured when Michael told him the buyer would send the cash to US Commercial Escrow Corps, an escrow company with a registered address in Manhattan.
James was given details for the account and when he checked it, the $2,600 reimbursement appeared to have been paid.
He even made contact with a representative of the escrow company, who spoke with an American accent.
Convinced of its legitimacy, he wired the $2,600 fee to a bank account in Mexico, as requested.
But then the deal hit another snag. A different cross border registration fee would cost another $3,600, but the buyer would again reimburse James for his troubles.
He checked the escrow account and, as before, this payment appeared to have been made.
'I felt alright,' James said. 'I thought "I'm getting reimbursed for this, all will be well".'
Jalisco New Generation uses dozens of call centers in Mexico and even bribes resort employees to leak guest information as part of its schemes to scam timeshare owners
The cartel is led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, or 'El Mencho' (above)
About a week later, Michael called again. And so it went on.
The fee total soon hit the $50,000 mark, at which point he was contacted by a man who purported to be from the UIF, Mexico's financial intelligence unit.
He demanded heftier fees for various violations James had supposedly committed, with threats of extradition if he did not comply.
All the while, his costs were seemingly being reimbursed by
