The Mexican Official Call - Restitution Fund Offer - Continued
February 28, 2016
On May 15, 2015, we posted an article that warned timeshare owners of fake restitution offers. In general, a callers pose themselves as working with an arm of the Mexican Federal Government that retores money to timesahre owners who are defrauded. Tap the following link to read that post: T-PS 20May152015 Fake Mexican Govt OfficialOn February 22, 2016, Peter sent us the following email:
I have been contacted by phone by this individual. Having seen similar attempts detailed on your website, I am sure it is a scam. I have forwarded the info to the Mexican Embassy in Canada for verification, but am still awaiting reply.
Later that same day, he sent us the following emai:
FYI – this is the reply I received from Mexican Embassy in Canada:
From: Asuntos Económicos Embamex Canadá
Sent: February 22, 2016 4:03 PM
To: "Peter"
Cc: Remis Santos, Cesar Manuel
Subject: RE: LA SEIDO FRAUD UNIT
Dear Mr......,
Thank you for contacting the Embassy of Mexico in Canada. The e-mail address below is NOT of legitimate government official. This is a scam. We advise you not share your personal or financial information and not to send money to these individuals.
Sincerely,
Note the reference to LA SEIDO Fraud Unit in Grace Corona's email to Peter. Wikipedia describes this unit as the following:
SEIDO, Subprocuraduría Especializada en Investigación de Delincuencia Organizada (English: Assistant Attorney General's Office for Special Investigations on Organized Crime), is the organized-crime division of Mexico's Office of the Attorney General.
In October 2012, the organization changed its name from SIEDO to SEIDO.
History and Organization
SEIDO was formed in the wake of a 2003 scandal that found agents in the Attorney General's anti-narcotics prosecution office, FEADS, actively working for or protecting Mexican drug cartels. As a result, SEIDO was formed with 117 agents whose backgrounds and psychological profiles were intensely researched, in the hope that agents prone to Cartel corruption would be weeded out before they could enter the force.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEIDO
The document sent by the Fake Government Official is the following:
The Timeshare Industry is unregulated. In large part, ownership interests are expressed in contracts. Sales people have a very short amount of time to sell their contracts, and often times buyers are disappointed. What they bought is not what they thought they bought. Dissatisfaction leads to desparation, which opens the door to Advance Fee Frauds.
Thank you Peter for reminding us there are seeminly genuine people who appear to be well meaning, but who in the end are out to take our money. Peter did the right thing - contact officials to confirm legitimacy. Great job!!