American families retiring to Mexico must heed the warning of those scammed out of an estimated $7 million or more by a local banker, according to NBC News.
"It's all gone. All the money is gone," fraud victim Kelly Karger was told by her husband, per the report. "I just remember bending [over], just stopping in the street thinking, 'I'm going to be sick.'"
At least nine families were duped by a San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, banker who gained their trust, emptied their accounts, and then vanished, NBC News reported.
"I was speechless," Kathy Machir, 67, who was left with roughly 40 cents in her account, told NBC News. "It just gives you a sense of ultimate betrayal, loss, horror."
The Grupo Financiero Monex banker Marcela Zavala Taylor allegedly took personal interest in her clients, asking about their families, handling their finances, and then taking them without a trace – including her own relatives – per the report.
"They told me she no longer worked there," Lani Van Petten, Marcela's U.S.-born aunt who was also victimized, told NBC News. "And they told me I had 1000 pesos in my account [about $50] and that it was all gone. I started to cry. That was the obvious thing to do."
Monex told NBC News it has initiated criminal legal action against Taylor, but NBC News reported Mexican authorities have no record of complaints of the alleged fraud.
"Monex reiterates that it is an institution that acts with strict adherence to national and international rules that all its businesses and operations fulfill according to law and are regulated and supervised by the corresponding authorities," a translated Monex statement read amid the resolution of 45 of 50 complaints, with five still in negotiations, per the report.
Among those who settled, they were asked by Monex to pursue legal action against Taylor – although some victims believe Monex to have been involved in the fraud – per the report.
"I'd probably hold her hand and say, 'Marcela is this possible? Could you really have done all this?'" Van Petten told NBC News what she would say to Taylor if she was able to get in contact with her niece.
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