Californian man, 76, scammed out of almost $1million by CANNIBAL Mexican cartel in bizarre timeshare fraud that has duped dozens of elderly Americans out of life savings admits: 'I should have listened to my wife'

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 the mysterious  Mexican investor, who clearly had no limits to his wealth. 

The money always appeared in the New York escrow account, but no funds were ever released.

James was even convinced by the scammers to invest $32,000 in a sustainable housing investment in Mexico.

He received paperwork confirming the transaction that appeared to be from the Bank of Mexico, with detailed addresses and letterheads.

In total, James was required to make a dozen payments for a variety of reasons. 

He made his last payment in January, with the grand total reaching a whopping $890,000, spread across various bank accounts in Mexico.

A little under a third of this was related to his timeshare, with the rest accounting for by fees for the sustainable housing investment. 

To fund these payments, James had to borrow $150,000 from his daughter and sell his childhood home. 

By the time he started to uncover some worrying details, it was already too late.

James discovered that the website for the Atlanta estate agency had been registered in 2021, but was taken down just days after his first phone call from Michael.

The email address he had for a man who claimed to be from the Bank of Mexico, alongside domain names for other 'Mexican' companies that had been involved in the racket, appeared to have been registered in Arizona and, inexplicably, Reykjavik.

'None of them had any addresses or locations in Mexico,' James said.

When DailyMail.com visited the address for US Commercial Escrow Corps in midtown Manhattan, it appeared that the suite number it had provided did not exist, and no one in the building had heard of the company. 

Jalisco New Generation has grown into one of Mexico's most powerful cartels  under El Mencho's leadership. It was established around 15 years ago.

James contacted Mike Finn, founder of Finn Law Group in St. Petersburg, Florida, who has represented thousands of people facing an array of timeshare frauds, some of whom appear to have been targeted by Mexican cartels.

Finn said timeshare owners are particularly vulnerable because they are unable to offload them in any other way, so when an offer comes in 'their excitement blinds them to the details'.

The attorney said the Mexican scams he has come across typically operate in a similar way: instead of fees being deducted from the closing fee, like a US house sale, the fraudsters convince their American victims that the process is different across the border, with vendors required to pay fees separately.

'I had one woman contact me who said her mother had lost her savings to one of these scams,' the attorney told DailyMail.com.

'When I asked her how much that was, she said $1.2million. They were only offering $300,000 for the timeshare.'

Once the money has been sent to Mexico, it is hard to get it back, Finn said. The FBI can only investigate if it gets the local authorities' cooperation, while American lawyers cannot file civil lawsuits beyond their jurisdiction.

The Jalisco New Generation has previously threatened media outlets and prominent journalists including news anchor Azucena Uresti (pictured) over their coverage of the cartel

Timeshare sales hit $10.5billion in 2022, a 30 per cent rise from the year before, according to the American Resort Development Association.

But the sector's growing popularity has also brought with it a 79 per cent increase in timeshare fraud complaints received by the FBI over the past four years.

American timeshare owners have been scammed out of $288million in the last five years, including to schemes run by Jalisco New Generation, US officials have told The New York Times.

Typically, victims like James and Vicki are wiring money to bank accounts held by the cartel's associates, the paper reported.

Jalisco New Generation, led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, or 'El Mencho', has grown into one of Mexico's most powerful cartels since it was established around 15 years ago.

Having started out in drug trafficking, it has expanded into legal sectors of the economy, including selling avocados to the US.

For its timeshare scams, the cartel uses dozens of call centers in Mexico and even bribes resort employees to leak guest information.

If they are crossed, the results are deadly.

Last May, eight Mexican men who worked at a call center run by the cartel were found dead inside plastic bags that had been dumped in a ravine on the outskirts of Guadalajara, a city in Jalisco state.

Local prosecutors who later searched the center found a mop with red stains, blackboards with foreign names and details of timeshare memberships.

For James, the scam cost him his life savings - and the respect of his wife.

'It was very elaborate,' he said. 'That's why I was sucked in. I just thought there were too many players involved for it to be a scam. 

'My wife said from the start that it didn't sound right. Obviously, I should have listened to her.

'She's p***** about the whole thing. But she's kind of resigned herself to the fact that I was the stupid one.'