{"id":9208,"date":"2021-01-08T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T19:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/blog\/?p=9208"},"modified":"2021-01-08T11:16:39","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T19:16:39","slug":"cartel-scams-phone-extortion-scam-threatens-people-and-businesses-out-of-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.socialcatfish.cloud\/scamfish\/cartel-scams-phone-extortion-scam-threatens-people-and-businesses-out-of-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Cartel Scams: Phone Extortion Scam Threatens People and Businesses Out of Money"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you keep up with certain movies, television shows, and the news, you might have heard of the Mexican drug cartels<\/a> that smuggle illegal substances all throughout Mexico and the United States. Scammers know how scary these cartels may seem, and have created scams revolving around cartel gangs, scaring people out of their hard-earned money. By pretending to be a drug cartel, they are able to seem tough and threatening to get what they want, which makes these scams so effective. These scammers<\/a> have called family members and businesses<\/a>, threatening to hurt a family member or the people in the business if they don’t do what they say. This is what makes these cartel scams so powerful, and why you should know some of the signs to watch out for.<\/p>\n

Types of Cartel Scams<\/h2>\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Phone-call-536094-scaled.jpg” panorama=”off” imgwidth=”100%” align=”center” lightbox=”off” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n

Business Scams<\/h3>\n

Scammers<\/a> call these businesses<\/a> up, demanding that the businesses give them money<\/a> from their cash registers or safe in a threatening tone of voice. These businesses<\/a> include hotels, stores, and restaurants that get continuous calls from these fraudsters pretending to be a drug cartel. Police officers have even investigated this situation further, and have found no link between the actual drug cartels and these scammers.<\/p>\n

These scammers make employees and owners of these businesses believe that they are being watched by a bunch of drug cartel members, ready to attack<\/a> if they don’t get the requested amount of money via CashApp<\/a>, PayPal<\/a>, gift card<\/a>, or another payment service. This is because scammers research and memorize every single detail about the business, so they can make their threats sound more legitimate.<\/p>\n

Family Member Scam<\/h3>\n

Scammers contact you via phone call<\/a> claiming that they have a close family member of yours, and is able to describe every detail about them. From their hair color, their eye color, their name, their birthday, where they work or go to school, and any other detail that might be important about them. That’s because they do extensive research about who they are to fool you into thinking they kidnapped them and are now holding them for ransom. In some cases, they even send you gory pictures of someone mangled up so that you would believe them more.<\/p>\n

They threaten to hurt your family member unless you allow them to drain your bank account<\/a>. They usually instruct you to go to a store and send a money order over to them, demanding that you provide them with the transaction number so that they can take your money.<\/p>\n

How to Avoid Cartel Scams<\/h2>\n[aesop_image img=”https:\/\/socialcatfish.com\/scamfish\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Side-profile-phone-call-363298-scaled.jpg” panorama=”off” imgwidth=”100%” align=”center” lightbox=”off” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]\n