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unbob
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Americans’ Life Savings Disappear From Mexican Bank Accounts
Not Baja-specific - but certainly of interest to all residents of Mexico!
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-23/expats-mi...
[Edited on 5-24-2019 by unbob]
"I'm too young to be this old!"
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Lee
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No surprise. Lose your money, sue the bank, go to court. Good luck on that. Never going to happen to me as I'll never have a MX bank account.
US Marines: providing enemies of America an opportunity to die for their country since 1775.
What I say before any important decision.
F*ck it.
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SFandH
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From the link in the article
Monex Casa de Bolsa:
Monex Casa de Bolsa provides financial advisory and services to Mexican and foreign financial institutions. The Company also derives revenues by
investing in security, fixed and equity income funds and real estate.
An investment bank, much different than banks like Bancomer.
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chuckie
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What Lee said....Learned my lesson.....lost a lil over 50K, Legal Thievery..I may learn slow but I learn good.....
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fishbuck
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What about having an account at a local bank? Not life savings but just for functional access reasons. Local access.
Or can a US bank be used for all needs for an expat?
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." J. A. Shedd.
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. – Albert Einstein
"Life's a Beach... and then you Fly!" Fishbuck
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DawnPatrol
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Quote: Originally posted by chuckie  | | What Lee said....Learned my lesson.....lost a lil over 50K, Legal Thievery..I may learn slow but I learn good..... |
wow.... Chuckie.... that sucks
care to elaborate ? If it is too sensitive to talk about it I definitely understand
Alan
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SFandH
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| Quote: Originally posted by fishbuck | What about having an account at a local bank? Not life savings but just for functional access reasons. Local access.
Or can a US bank be used for all needs for an expat? |
If you are buying large ticket items or services, it might be handy to have a local account to wire money into from your US bank. Otherwise, an ATM
card from a US bank will suffice for routine expenses. Make sure you have at least two cards, in case you lose one.
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JoeJustJoe
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The title of the article is a little misleading because, " Monex Casa de Bolsa," is mostly a brokerage, real estate, and Forex, financial advisory
service, although they do regular banking too, however, from reading the article, it appears the American senior citizens, Howard Haynes, the the 83
year old from Kansas City, like Chuckie, were investing in probably inappropriate risky trading given their age and not watching their accounts
electronically. Do people actually wait for their monthly statement by mail?
There is a sucker born every minute, and senior citizens, because many of them are too trusting, and have built up nice nest eggs, are often a target.
Had the savings been in an actual Mexican bank account, they would have been covered up to the equivalent FDIC insurance in Mexico, called IPAB, and
they cover savings account, checking accounts, debit cards, and a few other financial instruments up to a limit. If you have more than the Mexican
banks, limit, put you money in another bank, like a US bank.
I know what people are thinking that everything in Mexico, is 3rd world, but Mexico banking in not one of them. With the exception of Mexicans liking
to deal in cash, and are prone to be robbed with large amount of money. Mexican banks, are first world, and can rip off people, or screw people, as
good as banks in the US or Europe with legal scams.
In the US if you're Schwab, account loses money from unauthorized trades or hacking, your brokerage SPIC insurance, may not save you. You will have to
prove the trades were unauthorized and you were not just scammed. So it does take time for even Schwab, to make your whole again.
My bet the Mexican banks/brokers will settle with the ex-pats that lost money, but it will take time, and if they don't make take care of their
clients, they could lose their ability to bank around the world.
My feelings if you put all your eggs in one basket,( one bank) and are not watching that basket, online often, then you probably deserve to be ripped
off, or inconvenienced while they try to trace what happened to your money.
Of course, you could leave all your money in a US bank, and have bank employees rip you off with high commissioned fixed or variable annuities, while
they try to get you to keep all your money in one bank only.
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grizzlyfsh95
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Had ID theft couple of years ago. Us banks covered the losses. Mexican (Bancomer) did not. Told us to just suck it up. Thieves cleaned out checking
and savings. We keep minimal balance in a checking account not, and do not use debit cards.
The harder I work, the luckier I get
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bajatrailrider
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Why would you put life savings in a Mexican bank. bankcomer the worst. Mexican next door had account with bankcomer. Someone got hold of his debit
card number cleaned out his account. He sued bankcomer won they had to give all money back and all legal fees.
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JoeJustJoe
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| Quote: Originally posted by grizzlyfsh95 | | Had ID theft couple of years ago. Us banks covered the losses. Mexican (Bancomer) did not. Told us to just suck it up. Thieves cleaned out checking
and savings. We keep minimal balance in a checking account not, and do not use debit cards. |
Maybe Bancomer, didn't find your story credible since you claim the ID thieves cleaned out both your US and Mexican bank accounts.
How did the hackers gain access to your mutiple accounts in both the US and Mexico? Did they get a hold of your computer or email? Are you sure it's
not someone like an ex-wife?
Usually they get one debit or credit card and gain access to one account and if ID thieves get your Social Secuirty number they just get credit cards
using your identity and then go on a shopping spree and then it takes time to clean up your credit.
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chuckie
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The size of this theft is pretty amazing,,...7.3 million cases so far....and 18.9 BILLION Pesos in value, gone missing
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BajaBlanca
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Les really had a hard time when we first moved here. It took us two months to open up an account. Once done, fees took all his money and there was
no way (at the time) to see online what was happening. I bet he was one of the fastest clients ever to shut down an account (and he had to PAY to
shut it down)!
We now use numerous American banks and find that his mot having a Mexican account is not an issue at all, ever. When we need larger sums, we simply
use wells fargo to transfer $$$.
I have an account that is protected since I am a teacher in the Mexican schools but every so often bizarre smaller sums disappear.
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Hook
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I believe Monex is also big in the fideicomiso business. Hope it doesnt affect anyone's trust.
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bajatrailrider
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Santander is sister bank of Wells Fargo. I now use Wells Fargo to change dollars to pesos. Then they send free to Santander . Also great ex. Rate
better then chase.
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JoeJustJoe
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| Quote: Originally posted by chuckie | | The size of this theft is pretty amazing,,...7.3 million cases so far....and 18.9 BILLION Pesos in value, gone missing |
Your money may be safer in a Mexico bank, with over 70 percent identify thefts taking place in the US compared to the rest of the world.
BajaBlanca, mentions Wells Fargo, as if it's a safe bank, but if anything moving your money to Wells Fargo, is like going from the frying pan to the
fire! No bank in the world committed as many scams on their clients in so many ways as Well Fargo, who has so far paid billions in fines for their
scams.
The latest is Wells Fargo, is up to their old tricks.
SAN FRANCISCO, February 6, 2018 – The 2018 Identity Fraud Study released today by Javelin Strategy & Research, revealed that the number of
identity fraud victims increased by eight percent (rising to 16.7 million U.S. consumers) in the last year, a record high since Javelin Strategy &
Research began tracking identity fraud in 2003. The study found that despite industry efforts to prevent identity fraud, fraudsters successfully
adapted to net 1.3 million more victims in 2017, with the amount stolen rising to $16.8 billion
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LancairDriver
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Banking in Mexico
Bank fraud in San Miguel de Allende: expats fight to regain US $40 million stolen through Ponzi scheme
Some have settled for 50 cents on the dollar. Others are determined to get their money back
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/bank-fraud-in-san-miguel-de...
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Lee
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“During all the time I spent at Monex HQ I felt I was treated as the criminal and not the victim,” Brown said.''
''An 82-year-old European retiree who banked with Zavala and Monex since 2005, who did not wish to be named for fear over her safety....''
''Mexico News Daily spoke to more than a dozen victims for this story, half of whom refused to be identified, fearing for their personal safety or
reprisal from Monex...'
Napoleonic law. Guilty until proven innocent. Bank blames victims for not paying attention to their accounts. Typical MX corruption.
US Marines: providing enemies of America an opportunity to die for their country since 1775.
What I say before any important decision.
F*ck it.
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Alm
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The article is poor on banking details. There is no mention of IPAB - Mexican govt deposit insurance body, so I "presume" this was not applicable and
the lost/stolen funds were mutual fund products sold through the Banco Monex, rather than checking or savings accounts.
Schemes where you can be had usually imply a freedom to perform transactions and permutations on your behalf with not much disclosure, potentially
high returns and no guarantee of initial deposit. Had to be mutual funds, exchange-traded funds or similar products.
Many banks have in-house products of this type. Monex used to be a mutual funds broker, it's only in 2006 that they added actual bank to their
operations. There are dozens of old global banks with respective Mexican entities, - Monex is not one of them.
[Edited on 6-8-2019 by Alm]
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Hook
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I DO suspect that a lot of these victims were lured to these investment products by the promises of returns of 10-20%, annually. And that type of
investment is probably not insured.
Still, this is clearly some type of fraudulent activity. There has been no significant downturn in the major stock exchanges that could be blamed for
the loss of their investments. Or, I guess, a hugely undiversified investment and 1-3 companies failing could explain it.
But in Mexico, there are usually other explanations that are more nefarious. In this case, who was making these unauthorized withdrawals from all
these clients accounts? That's what makes this different than simply a devalued investment.
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