Mexican authorities have confirmed that eight young workers at a drug cartel's scam call center were found dead after reportedly attempting to quit their jobs.
The workers were reported missing last month after relatives became suspicious when they had not returned from their office in the western city of Guadalajara. Human remains were found last week, discarded in plastic bags west of Jalisco. Six men and two women were reported missing in the case.
Their families believed they worked at a typical call center when they were working for the Jalisco New Generation cartel. Among the most violent in Mexico, the cartel is well known for its drug trafficking, extortion, and kidnapping businesses. Authorities have confirmed the cartel has branched into running call centers, which typically target Americans for scams such as offers to purchase fake timeshares.
While Mexican authorities did not confirm a motive for the killing of the workers, an American official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press it appeared the workers were killed because they attempted to quit their jobs. "Best guess is these kids had decided they wanted out of the business," the U.S. official said, adding the cartel was "sending a message to other defectors."
Call centers have become a significant employment source for Mexico's youth; many may have learned English in the U.S. before returning or migrating to Mexico. But scam call centers have become a more extensive operation for Jalisco New Generation, with the U.S. undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence saying last month that the cartel's "deep involvement in timeshare fraud in the Puerto Vallarta area and elsewhere, which often targets elderly U.S. citizens and can defraud victims of their life savings, is an important revenue stream supporting the group's overall criminal enterprise."
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