Mexican Chicanery

On Sunday, my husband comes rushing over from his brother’s house to plug in his phone to charge in the truck. He said that the owner of the house he had been building in La Yacata kept calling him from el Norte (the US). Sure enough, a few minutes later the phone rang again. Seems the guy was on his way back to Moroleon. Well, bully for him.

A few hours later, my husband comes running back over to ask if I would loan him 3,000 pesos to send to this guy. So, as a dutiful wife, I look through my savings and sure enough, I have just 3,000 pesos that I’ve been saving for a washing machine. I ask why the guy doesn’t just call his wife if he needs money. My husband didn’t know. Now just a dang gone minute–this seems a bit fishy.

So here’s the story. The guy calls my husband to say that he’s on his way home but that he doesn’t want to travel with all the cash he’s bringing. He asks if he could deposit the money in my husband’s bank account. Additionally, he asks my husband what tools he still needs and says that he’ll bring him something. There must have been some interaction where the guy goes to the bank, gets my husband’s information and “deposits” the money. Of course, it being Sunday, there isn’t any way to verify this. My husband assures him that the $6,000 USD he “deposited” will be more than enough to finish the house in La Yacata.

Then the guy calls back later. He said he just crossed the border with $2000 USD. He legalized his truck and trailer, which cost him $1700 USD for the truck and another $200 USD for the trailer. Now he’s got a problem because he doesn’t have enough money for gas to get to Moroleon. So here’s where he asks my husband to send $3000 pesos.

So I told my husband, if I gave him the money to send, we wouldn’t have anything to eat this week. Plus there is the fee for sending the money which usually is like $500 pesos. My husband asks the guy if $2,500 pesos would be enough. The guy says that if he sends the money through XOXO, there isn’t any fee. He assures my husband that he will repay the money tonight if he arrives in Moroleon tonight, or tomorrow morning at the at the latest. He was in Tamaulipas and the trip to Moroleon is about 7 hours barring disasters. So my husband asks what name the money transfer should be in and the guy hangs up. A few minutes later, he gets a message that reiterates that if he sends the money through XOXO, there is no fee.

I suggested that he go and see the wife before he sent any money. My husband assured me that it was this guy, he sounded just like him anyway. He got all defensive and I finally pocketed the money again. I would not give him the money unless he talked to the wife. He said he’d see the wife but that I should give him the money so that he can “luego, luego” (quickly) send the money while he was out and about. I said no. My husband left the house in a huff.

I had to go and work, so I was not privy to the continued goings on. My husband, who is of the mentality that vatos (guys) help each other out, managed to borrow the money from Azul the vet and his brother B. He went ahead and sent it at XOXO. THEN he went to talk to the wife who said that her husband wasn’t due to come home until Christmas. It had all been a setup.

So this morning, my husband, who is unemployed yet again, needs to come up with $3000 pesos to repay what he sent to some crook. He says he’s going to sell some goats–he’ll need to sell four or so to cover the debt. And this is how things are done in Mexico.

See also Western Union Fraud Education Program