On June 30, 2026, FinCEN issued a supplemental Alert regarding fuel smuggling and tax evasion schemes on the southern border associated with Mexico-based cartels. The Alert advises financial institutions to be vigilant in detecting, identifying, and reporting suspicious activity connected to Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and other Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations.
Expanding on its May 2025 guidance, the supplemental alert highlights schemes involving the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Sinaloa Cartel, Gulf Cartel, and other Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), also referred to as “Cartels", that smuggle gasoline, diesel, naphtha, and other fuel from the United States across the U.S. southern border or through U.S. ports into Mexico as part of Mexican tax evasion schemes known as fiscal fuel theft. The Alert provides an overview of methodologies and financial typologies associated with these fiscal fuel theft schemes.
In addition, the Alert highlights the following red flag indicators to help detect, prevent, and report potentially suspicious activity related to fiscal fuel theft schemes on the southern border:
A customer is a U.S.-based company in the oil and natural gas industry that is receiving wire transfers for fuel purchases from a Mexico-based company without a SENER permit.
A customer is a U.S.-based company in the oil and natural gas industry that is receiving wire transfers from a Mexico-based company with a CNE permit.
A customer is a U.S.-based company in the oil and natural gas industry that is receiving multiple wire transfers a day from a single Mexico-based company.
A customer is a U.S.-based company (or their nominal and/or beneficial owners) that is connected to huachicol-related activities according to U.S. or Mexican media reporting.
A customer is a U.S.-based company in the oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics industries that is transacting with Mexican companies with connections to huachicol-related activities based on open-source reporting in the United States and Mexico, indictments, and OFAC designations and/or press releases.
A customer is a small U.S.-based company in the oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics industries operating in states on the southern border with transactional activity and profit margins that exceed the typical business profile of similar companies in their industries.
A customer is a U.S. company in the oil and natural gas industry receiving wire transfers from U.S. or Mexican companies registered to a residential address.
A customer is a U.S. company in the oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics industries that is receiving a significant amount and volume of wire transfers from companies in unrelated industries.
A customer is a small, recently established U.S.-based oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics limited liability corporation (LLC) and/or sole proprietorship that shares a name with a Mexican company and is sending a significant amount and volume of large wire transfers to U.S. fuel distributors or refineries in a single day and later receiving commensurate international wire transfers from other Mexican companies.
A customer is a small, recently established U.S.-based oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics LLC and/or sole proprietorship that shares a name with a Mexican company and has transactional activity and profit margins exceeding the typical business profile of similar companies in their industry.
A customer is a U.S. or Mexican company in the oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics industries with little to no business expenses, operations, or online presence.
A customer is a U.S. or Mexican company in the oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics industries registered to a residential address.
A customer is a U.S. or Mexican company in the oil and natural gas industry with significant transactional activity but no apparent infrastructure to store and transport fuel.
A customer is a U.S.-based company in the oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics industries that is receiving a significant amount and volume of wire transfers from Mexico before immediately transferring the funds to U.S. oil and natural gas companies (i.e., acting as a passthrough account).
A customer is a U.S. or Mexican company in the oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics industries that is receiving a significant amount and volume of wire transfers from Mexico but only transacts with one or a small number of U.S. companies.
A customer is a U.S.-based company in the oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics industries that is receiving a significant amount and volume of wire transfers from Mexico with little to no information contained in the memo line.
A customer is a U.S.-based company in the oil and natural gas industry that is receiving digital asset payments from Mexican companies when similar energy transactions would normally be conducted through the traditional fiat systems, wire transfers, and standard trade finance.
A customer is a U.S.-based company in the oil and natural gas industry that is receiving cash deposits.
A customer is a U.S.-based company in the oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics industries with significant operations in ports of entry despite those areas being subject to bridge closures, according to Mexican media reporting.
A customer is a U.S. oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics company that operates in Mexico but does not have a Mexican subsidiary (e.g., ABC Fuel without ABC Fuel S.A. de C.V.).
A customer is a U.S. company in the oil and natural gas industry that is sending a significant amount and volume of large wire transfers to a major U.S. fuel distributor or refinery for fuel exports to Mexico in a single day and later receiving commensurate wire transfers from a Mexican company without a SENER permit or small, recently established U.S.-based companies in the oil and natural gas, freight, or logistics industries.
A customer is a U.S.-based company in the oil and natural gas industry that operates in states on the southern border and has outgoing transactions to, or expenditures related to, companies with no apparent nexus to the industry, such as companies involved in the sale of luxury goods (e.g., high-end vehicles, high-value jewelry or exclusive vacation rentals/travel destinations) or in industries related to investment management or the sale of residential real estate.
Read FinCEN’s press release here.
The full Alert can be found here.