Luxury Cars and Counterfeit Checks: How ‘Los Soto Jiménez’ Operate in Mexico

Mexico City’s Citizen Security Secretariat, in coordination with federal authorities, has apprehended one of the alleged leaders of the Soto Jiménez—a criminal cell dedicated to fraud involving the purchase and sale of luxury vehicles. The individual in question is Guillermo N, alias “El Memín,” a 31-year-old man. 

According to the SSC, his criminal group operated across the states of Nuevo León, Puebla, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Hidalgo, the State of Mexico, and Mexico City. Journalist and host of the program *C4 en Alerta*, Carlos Jiménez, noted that he had identified this criminal group between 2018 and 2019. 

As previously mentioned, they stole luxury vehicles by executing fraudulent transactions involving bounced checks and fake bank transfers. The source detailed that the Soto Jiménez don’t steal just any type of automobile, but specifically luxury models valued between 600,000 and 2 million pesos. 

Among the vehicles they target, prominent models include Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, and Lamborghini. The Soto Jiménez are a criminal family whose younger generations would pose as the children of wealthy business owners to deceive victims across various parts of Mexico. 

Members of this clan have evolved into a criminal organization dedicated to fraud and the trafficking of vehicles of dubious origin. Their modus operandi involves purchasing cars or SUVs—typically valued between 500,000 and 800,000 pesos—using bounced checks; they then fabricate false documentation and alter the vehicles’ identification numbers in an attempt to evade detection, subsequently reselling the vehicles to generate a profit. 

Another method they employ involves purchasing vehicles that have been reported stolen; they likewise manufacture counterfeit documentation for these vehicles, which they then list for sale on the internet or social media platforms in an effort to continue funding their criminal enterprise. 

Guillermo N. was apprehended on April 30th following a coordinated operation in the Colonia Doctores district, involving personnel from the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection, the National Intelligence Center, and the Offices of the Attorney General of the Republic and the Attorney General of Mexico City. 

Following his capture, the suspect was transferred to the capital city’s Attorney General’s Office. Meanwhile, C4 Jiménez reported that “El Memín” is the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant in another state.

Source: Milenio