Infonavit Corruption Scandal Exposed: Workers Defrauded in Massive Scheme

A corruption network has been exposed within the National Housing Fund Institute for Workers (Infonavit). The corruption involved a series of fraudulent sales, implicating Infonavit employees, notaries, firms and appraisal experts. The CEO of Infonavit, Octavio Romero Oropeza, stated that the goal was to defraud workers by taking at least 40% of their savings from the housing fund.

Many workers are unaware of the funds they have in Infonavit. Fraudsters, known as 'coyotes', exploit this lack of knowledge. They promise to retrieve the workers' money from Infonavit, claiming that it would otherwise be taken by the government. In reality, they extract the funds through this corrupt network and keep a large portion for themselves.

This fraudulent scheme was first detected in Tlaxcala in 2022. Carlos Martínez Velázquez, former director of Infonavit, explained that a regional internal control system was implemented and local controller units were established. They discovered instances of the same house being sold multiple times to different workers, sometimes even from the same company.

The 'coyotes' encouraged workers to withdraw their funds from Infonavit. As this can only be done through a loan from the institute or upon retirement, a financing scheme was simulated. The fraudsters then charged a percentage of the worker's housing subaccount. Infonavit authorities have found evidence of this fraud in at least 21 states, with 12,000 loans granted on 1,400 houses. Some properties were sold up to four times a year. The total embezzlement is estimated to be over 1.2 billion pesos.

The State of Mexico has the highest number of cases, with 496 properties involved in 4,130 fraudulent transactions. Jalisco and Baja California follow, with 239 and 205 properties involved in 2,037 and 1,696 fraudulent transactions respectively.

Following the discovery of this fraud, the implicated officials were dismissed, the involved notaries were suspended, and legal actions were taken. Infonavit also implemented a rule that a property cannot be sold again until a year has passed since the previous sale. Infonavit urges people not to trust 'coyotes', as all procedures with the institute are free and do not require intermediaries.

Infonavit provides several contact points for any procedures, including an online banking portal where users can check credit information, savings in the housing subaccount, prequalify for a loan, among other transactions.