That offer to buy your time-share could be from a Mexican drug cartel

The phone calls were coming on an almost daily basis. Lawyers, real estate agents and people with cash in hand, all looking to purchase Rod Pratt and Diana Paquette's Mexican time-share at a handsome price.

It seemed like a godsend to the Edmonton couple. On their first trip to Mexico, for a 2016 wedding, they had made a snap decision to invest in a beachfront property in Nuevo Vallarta, on the Pacific coast, just north of the resort town Puerto Vallarta.

But nothing was as it appeared. Even after spending $95,000 US on the time-share and three upgrades, there were room charges, maintenance fees, bills for food, drink and airfare — meaning a week's vacation still cost $5,000 or more. An amount they couldn't afford.

"Anything you look at and touch, it's got a dollar tag on it," said Pratt, 65. "It's definitely not all-inclusive."

By the spring of 2019, they were desperate to unload the time-share. So when a broker from Atlanta cold-called and said he had a client willing to pay $155,000 US, Pratt pounced. A Mexican real estate agent and buyer joined the conversation, and a contract was signed. All that was required to seal the deal were a few, upfront payments from Pratt.

"They have, like, these fees and stuff they wanted for opening and closing… all kinds of little ones," he said. "Anywhere from maybe $1,500 US to $10,000."

The supposed deal fell through when Pratt balked at paying as much $30,000 US for "taxes."

But soon, his phone was again ringing with other lucrative offers. Over the next three years, Pratt entered two more sales agreements, and accepted a short-term rental offer. All the purported deals followed the same pattern — upfront demands for fees, costs and taxes, with the promised payout always a step away. In the end, he estimates he lost more than $200,000 Cdn to the scams. 

"They were all saying they were lawyers, they were realtors. They were everything under the sun," said Pratt. "But none of it was legit." 

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (known by its Spanish initials CJNG) has existed for only 15 years, yet ranks one of Mexico's largest and most powerful criminal organizations. It operates in at least 27 of the country's 32 states, with affiliates across the globe. Its home base is Puerto Vallarta.

Over its ultra-violent history, the group has expanded its activities from drug production and trafficking, to kidnapping and extortion, to less predictable turf like the avocado trade and, more recently, time-share scams. 

The cartel "generates substantial revenue for its multi-faceted criminal enterprise through its time-share fraud network," U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned last November. 

"CJNG uses extreme violence and intimidation to control the time-share network, which often targets elder U.S. citizens and can defraud victims of their life savings."

Any doubts about Jalisco's new focus on time-shares were put to rest by a horrific massacre in May 2023, when authorities recovered the garbage-bag-wrapped, hacked-up remains of eight young call centre workers from a ravine near Zapopan, Mexico.