Baja California Sur’s state government issued a fresh warning this week about phone scammers impersonating officials, this time targeting business owners with fake calls about a vendor registry. It’s a small, specific scheme, but it’s also a good reminder for every foreign retiree and second-home owner in the region: scam calls and texts never really go away here, they just change costumes.
Whether the caller claims to be from the electric company, immigration, or a timeshare resale office, the underlying tactics are nearly identical. Knowing the patterns is the easiest way to avoid losing money or personal information.
What Prompted This Week’s Warning
The state’s Secretaría de Finanzas y Administración — roughly the equivalent of a state finance ministry — says it has identified calls from people requesting information tied to the padrón de proveedores, the official registry businesses use to sell goods or services to the state government. According to the state government’s notice, these calls do not correspond to any official procedure. Real registry business, the ministry says, is handled only in person at its offices or through its official portal, finanzas.bcs.gob.mx.
Anyone who receives one of these calls is encouraged to verify it before sharing any information, and can report suspicious contact to the ministry at 612-12-3-94-00 or by email at as********@*****ob.mx, according to the official announcement.
The Scams Foreign Residents Report Most
Vendor-registry calls mostly affect local business owners, but retirees and part-time residents in Los Cabos and La Paz tend to encounter a different lineup. Fake utility bill calls or texts, often posing as CFE (the federal electricity utility), warn of an overdue balance and an imminent disconnection unless payment is made immediately through a link or wire transfer. Government impersonator calls claim to be from immigration authorities, tax offices, or even the police, threatening fines or visa problems unless the person pays on the spot — a tactic that plays on uncertainty around paperwork, something covered in our guide to renewing a resident alien card. Timeshare pressure calls round out the list, offering to buy back a property at an inflated price if the owner pays an upfront “transfer fee” or “tax,” a scheme that has drained savings from longtime owners across the peninsula for years.
None of this is unique to Baja Sur, but the number of potential targets has grown. The state ranks among the highest in the country for cellphone adoption, a trend covered in our earlier look at Baja California Sur’s cell phone usage numbers, which also means more phone numbers in circulation for scammers to dial.
Simple Habits That Keep Scammers Out
No legitimate Mexican government agency, utility, or bank will ask for full account numbers, passwords, or a CURP (the national ID number) over an unsolicited call or text. If a caller creates urgency — a bill due today, a fine doubling by tomorrow — that pressure itself is a red flag.
The safest response is to hang up or ignore the text, then contact the agency directly using a phone number or website found independently, not one provided by the caller. For anything involving money, a similar caution applies to in-person deals: the same due-diligence habits outlined in our piece on avoiding construction scams in Mexico apply equally to phone and text contact. If in doubt, verify with a neighbor, property manager, or local Facebook group before sending any payment.
What to Do If You’re Targeted
Suspicious calls involving state business matters can be reported to the Secretaría de Finanzas y Administración at 612-12-3-94-00 or as********@*****ob.mx. For scams involving utility bills, banks, or immigration status, contact the agency’s official customer service line directly rather than any number left in a voicemail or text. Keeping a record of the call — the number, time, and what was said — makes it easier to report the incident and warn others in the community.
