In August 2024, I filed a complaint with the CFPB against a large American bank and the US subsidiary of a Mexican brokerage firm. The complaint was based on their failure to comply with anti-money laundering regulations, specifically their obligation to report suspicious transactions, which they failed to do in my case.
I was a victim of a timeshare rental scam in 2021. The amount involved was relatively small (US$ 7,000) because I did the business just to see where the scammers' offers would lead us. I must also say that before going ahead with the business I did my due diligence but that was not helped by the erroneous information contained in a state registry about the Title Company used in the fraud scheme.
Although the relatively small amount involved, I decided to pursue the fraudsters. I reported the scam to authorities in both Mexico and the USA. I have reported and updated this information with the FBI, FinCEN, FTC, and the State Attorney's Office. I also filed a report with FINRA in the USA and with the Mexican National Banking and Securities Commission.
I also managed to contact four other victims who confirmed that they – like me - had transferred money to a dissolved American title company, which however appeared as active in the State Registry. The funds were transferred to an account with the American bank, held by the Mexican brokerage firm, which then immediately forwarded the money to a Mexican company.
In my opinion the use of the account of the Mexican brokerage house in the American Bank, which regularly received from different persons (mostly - like myself - from Latin America) funds for a company with which the account holder had no relationship, funds that were immediately transferred to a Mexican company, should have sounded all the alarms as suspicious operations, which did not occur. That is what I claimed through CFPB.
Although the bank denied responsibility twice, I formally requested that they establish a verification system for potential scam victims to verify the authenticity of trust account statements that scammers sent to their victims. However, despite my efforts, I couldn't convince the bank to establish that dedicated email for use of potential victims.
The positive outcome: The bank is now aware of the irregular use of the account, and they run the risk of being held accountable in the future for any inaction. At least that´s what I hope. As for the brokerage firm's U.S. subsidiary, my final step is to report them to the SEC.