Cartel death threat text messages 2022

After weeks of warning about a scam targeting grandparents, Mounties in British Columbia are seeing a darker extortion plot emerging in the province.

For some time, police have been warning elderly residents to be wary of callers claiming a young relative is in jail and in need of bail money. B.C. seniors have in some cases given up tens of thousands of dollars before realizing they'd been targeted by scammers.

But on Tuesday, RCMP officers warned that a new phone scam is circulating.

Police in Merritt said these scammers are texting or calling victims, telling them they know their victims attempted to hire sex workers and demanding large sums of money.

The calls are at random, and do not necessarily target those who actually have hired sex workers, or tried to.

"In all reports, the scammers did not know the victims' names or locations and it was clearly a random act to illicit money from them," the Merritt RCMP said in a news release.

The scammers take the extortion attempts even further, warning the victims the "cartel" will kill them if they don't comply, the RCMP said.

It's unclear whether those behind the scam actually name a cartel or give any further details.

In some cases, police said, the scammers have gone so far as to send photos of "severed human body parts" through text messages. They've also sent photos of guns in an effort to scare victims into handing over the money.

Police say anyone who gets one of these calls or texts should block the number immediately, and then report it.

"Please do not send money in any form, whether that be electronic money transfer, gift cards, cheques or money orders," Const. Ed Query said in the RCMP statement.

"If you ever feel you need to send money to clear a debt or avoid arrest, please call your local police and seek clarification first."

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - Ace Pascual says she checked her phone for any messages Sunday and found herself reading a death threat.

“Read carefully,” it began, “This is Jorge Miranda, I am in charge of the Sinaloa cartel, this is not a joke. i was paid to kill you.” The text went on to offer to forget the whole thing for $5,000 and, if she went to authorities, he would show up at her home and kill her and her family.

“I just thought why would someone be messaging me this. It had to be a scam.”

In fact, it had scam written all over it. Plus she was an unlikely target. “I just graduated. I’m a college kid. I don’t have any money.”

We’ve done a number of stories on similar scams and Pascual was familiar with them. They usually involve something like a supposed speeding violation and threaten an arrest warrant. This was on a whole different level. a scam almost certainly, but not so easily shrugged off. “I had to really question myself, how much of a scam do i think this is to go around telling everybody?”

“Anytime you receive a threat like that it’s concerning,” says Reno Police spokesman Officer Stephen Greenlee, “Especially when there are graphic images attached to it, it definitely would be concerning to the public.”

It turns out she wasn’t the only person to receive the text.

“I was just actually talking to another officer about this and he’d received this scam a few months back,” says Greenlee. “It might not be one 0f the more common ones that we see, but it’s been around. It’s known.”

In the end, she did the right thing. she didn’t respond. She did check with other family members and she reported it.

The text was a serious crime. If caught, the scammer could be charged with extortion. It’s unlikely that will happen.

The cybercrimes investigators at the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office checked out the phone number it came from. They say it’s associated with four people who almost certainly have no idea their number was being used. The scammers were using an internet base line to hijack--or ‘spoof’ their number. That makes it nearly impossible to trace.

All of this leaves us to chalk this up as a timely reminder that these scams exist and what to do and not do if you’re targeted.

“It is disturbing,” says Greenlee. Try to stay calm in that situation, Just report it and then don’t respond.”

There are certain red flags to help you spot fake text messages. Here are some tips: https://www.bbb.org/all/spot-a-scam/how-to-spot-a-phony-text-message

Copyright 2022 KOLO. All rights reserved.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WSMV) - Police warned residents Friday of a recent phone scam from callers claiming to be from Mexican cartels and threatening harm to residents and their families.

Murfreesboro Police officials said the callers were representing themselves as members of different Mexican cartels and would typically call or send threatening text messages with horrific photos of dismembered body parts to scare residents into sending money or else they would be killed. The majority of the messages were reportedly written in Spanish.

“We have no reason to believe that the callers are actually associated with any known cartel,” said CID Sergeant/Detective Sean Garrison. “However, they are causing fear with their fraud attempts.”

The callers would ask residents to send money through banking apps, gift cards, or other forms of non-traceable transfers.

“This is not a new scam,” Garrison said. “But it is the first time we have seen it locally.”

So far, the scammers have reportedly targeted at least four Murfreesboro residents.

MPD said in one recent case, a local man was talking with a woman on the internet who began asking for money. When he refused, he received a text message from a man claiming to be with the CJNG cartel. The caller also told the man that he had wasted the woman’s time and threatened to kill him and his family if he did not send $3,000.

The victim told police he then received two additional calls from men also sending threats, one claiming to be with the Sinaloa cartel. Out of fear for himself and his family, the victim sent $1,000 through a banking app. The caller attempted to convince the victim to wire additional transfer money, but he called the police instead.

MPD said three other victims filed police reports; however, they did not send the callers any money.

As a precaution, police have placed a special watch on the homes of the four victims.

If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be with a Mexican cartel and demanding money, you should consider the following:

• Don’t panic
• Hang up and block the phone number
• Do not reply to the threatening text messages
• Call police

Anyone with information about these fraud scams is encouraged to contact the CID Fraud Division at 615-893-2717.

Copyright 2022 WSMV. All rights reserved.

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