The Sinaloa Cartel has been using a surveillance system in Mexico City to track FBI agents operating in the country. They’ve also engaged in other hacking activities aimed at potential informants, some of whom have faced threats or worse.
This information comes from the FBI’s report on their “Efforts to mitigate the impact of ubiquitous technical surveillance.”
One instance highlighted by the report noted that in 2018, the cartel enlisted a hacker offering a variety of services. At one point, the hacker accessed the phone of an Assistant Legal Attaché (ALAT), a senior FBI official in Mexico City. This breach allowed the hacker to obtain call logs and geolocation data, effectively tracking the agent.
Another troubling tactic involved using the city’s police camera system, allowing hackers to monitor alerts and recognize individuals as they navigated the city. The report indicated that the Sinaloa Cartel has threatened and, at times, murdered “potential informants.”
This revelation comes shortly after the US Treasury Department named two Mexican banks and a brokerage firm implicated in laundering large sums for drug cartels and transferring funds to China to purchase fentanyl precursors. The Mexican government has responded by branding these financial allegations as unfounded and has defended its institutions against the US claims.
Notably, the brokerage flagged by the US Treasury, Vector Casa de Bolsa, is owned by Alfonso Romo, a former Chief of Staff to former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
