The U.S. Treasury Department and the FBI issued a notice to banks to be vigilant in detecting and reporting timeshare fraud perpetrated by Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations.

The U. S. this week imposed sanctions on a group of Mexican accountants and firms allegedly linked to a timeshare fraud ring run by the Jalisco New generation drug cartel. Timeshare fraud targeting Americans results in tens of millions of dollars in losses. In 2022, the FBI received over 600 complaints with losses of roughly $40 million from victims contacted by scammers regarding timeshares owned in Mexico. According to Treasury Undersecretary Brian nelson, Cartel fraudsters run sophisticated teams of professionals who seem perfectly normal on paper or on the phone, but in reality, they're money launderers, expertly trained in scamming U.S. citizens. The targets are often elderly Americans. The FBI said that unsolicited calls and emails may seem legitimate, but they're actually made by cartel-supported criminals. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.