Carchi, Ecuador: Some interesting modalities of crime

Adapt, overcome, improvise is the famous Mantra of the U.S. Marines. Well, many criminals and criminal organizations seem to have the same phrase in their playbook. Ecuadorian criminals as well as their imported brethren from Colombia and beyond always seem to be changing their game plan.  The following criminal modalities are from an article in lahora.ec published in 2016. It is important to be aware of how criminals work so that you lessen the chances of being a victim.

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With the holidays approaching rapidly, counterfeit U.S. bills no doubt is big business. A large number of fake bills are manufactured both in Colombia as well as Peru. In the northern province of Carchi bordering Colombia, bi-national criminal organizations appear to be responsible for much of the influx of counterfeit 20 dollar bills. The border towns are often used to get the illegal funds across into Ecuador. Carchi, Imbabura, Pichincha and Sucumbios are the main destinations.

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Door to door sales has always been a prominent sales distribution method for many products in Ecuador. One band of criminals take their door to door sales to a new level. They offer a special promotion called “Clean Hands (Manitas Limpias). This group scouts out homes and residents in deciding which homes to assault. The salesman or salesmen provide a hygiene product for the hands and offer to demonstrate it for you. They have you put some of the lotion on your hands and then encourage you to smell it. The alluring cream then renders the victim defenseless and often knocks them out. The criminal (s) then remove all of the owners valuables.  However, according to lahora.com it is also reported this same method is used by organ traffickers to disable their victims and once awaken find that organs have been removed from their body. However, the paper reports there have been no official complaints filed by victims. If organ trafficking is prevalent it appears that traffickers seem to stay below the radar of authorities as there are very few news reports about this type of crime in Ecuador. However, rumors abound of organ trafficking in Ecuador. Read Article    
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