The phenomenon of “destination weddings,” in which couples and families travel thousands of miles to get married, puts Mexico among the top tourist destinations. It attracts tourists, money… and unfortunately, also professional scammers.
Armelle Cloche and her fiancée, Nidia Patricia Martínez, strolled through Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, on the eve of their wedding, past the kiosk where mariachis gather, around the corners near the San Pedro Apóstol parish, and other streets alongside their European, American, and Mexican guests. But they were hiding a dark corner from their happiness.
Although the wedding celebration was to take place on schedule in Puerto Vallarta—just as they had dreamed—the hidden truth was evident at every turn: to have the celebration, they had to pay twice the original cost. Their wedding planner defrauded them of more than 300,000 pesos.
“We had to cancel our honeymoon,” the couple recalled in an interview with the Mexican press.
The trip to Thailand was put on hold, and they are waiting for better times after the scam perpetrated by Thalía Margarita León Pacheco, accused of fraud in five complaints filed with the Jalisco prosecutor’s office for deceiving foreign and Mexican couples getting married. She is currently a fugitive from justice.
This type of crime has become increasingly common in the country. It first affected Mexicans, whose cases have been officially reported and shared on social media platforms like TikTok; then, it was reported in local media outlets, and little by little, foreigners have been added to the list of victims as the popularity of “destination weddings” has taken off.
These celebrations have become increasingly popular over the past decade because couples prefer to say “I do” more than 30 kilometers from home, according to the International Association of Destination Wedding Professionals (IADWP).
Those who can afford it are traveling farther and farther. They browse the internet, clicking from one location to another, searching for the most beautiful, cheapest, most exotic, and coolest place. As a result, Mexico has already positioned itself among many of these seekers of unforgettable experiences.
Mexico, a favorite wedding destination
Figures from the International Association of Destination Wedding Professionals (IADWP), based on data from the Ministry of Tourism and the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), show that Mexico accounts for 23 percent of the global “romance tourism” market, with 150,000 weddings annually for foreigners, generating an average of 22.5 billion pesos in economic impact.
How much do couples and guests spend on weddings?
Guests spend close to US$1,000 per person during these weddings. They spend money on lodging, restaurants, craft shops, or anything else that excites them, while the bride and groom spare no expense on banquets and all sorts of extravagant details. In total, they spend an average of $67,000 per event. Wedding scammers are on the rise in Mexico.
Unfortunately, these types of crimes against couples are gradually increasing in Mexico.
“People feel comfortable stealing: according to statistics, there are only convictions in 1 percent of reported cases in Mexico, and only 10 percent of crimes are reported,” Spencer Richard McMullen, a former American banker who graduated as a lawyer from the Universidad América Latina de Jalisco, told MILENIO.
With a postgraduate degree from the Universidad Panamericana, McMullen is currently representing two couples who are taking legal action against fraudulent wedding planners; among them are Nidia, Armelle, and a U.S. military officer and his wife.
“When a crime occurs in Mexico, few foreigners have the desire, the patience, the money, or the right lawyers to file a report, because they have to return to their country and don’t have time to chase after people who will probably go unpunished,” she says.
In this climate of impunity, and with her kleptomaniac focus, Thalía Margarita León Pacheco landed in Jalisco. Her victims say she presented herself as a native of Puebla, a university professor, and a graduate of the Wedding and Event Planner School with license number 827, which the institution has since revoked amid the scandal, according to a statement.
Everything is set for the wedding
Impressed by the landscapes and vibrant Mexican culture, Frenchwoman Armelle moved to Guadalajara in 2020 from California, where she had lived for 5 years. Two years later, she met Nidia, and they fell in love.
“We decided to seal our three-year romance with a magical wedding in Puerto Vallarta,” she confirms.
With slender but firm hands, Armelle wasn’t entirely satisfied with the first wedding planner the couple hired. Between the French, English, and Spanish spoken by the planners, they couldn’t understand each other, so they hired Thalía Margarita, who was a partner of the first planner they had dismissed.
The woman appeared as number one on Bodas.com, and that, along with the recommendation, led them to trust her. They would later discover that the website charges for placement at the top of its lists, with the price depending on the size of the payment, and that she had also defrauded her partner.
But advertising wasn’t the accused woman’s only method of seduction. She was persuasive, used precise language, and had a charming smile to instill confidence in her future clients.
Overwhelmed by their jobs, the distance, and the need to create a “unique experience,” couples opting for “destination weddings” require a planner who knows the area, and that’s exactly what Thalía seemed to be.
“If you told her you wanted an elephant at the event, even if you didn’t have enough space, she’d say, ‘Of course, I’ll get you the elephant,’ and she’d send you a quote and tell you, ‘Make a deposit,’ and you, full of hope, would think, ‘She’ll definitely get it because she already sent me my wedding plan and budget.’ So you’d make the deposit,” explains another victim who asked to remain anonymous.
Through a series of enticing offers, small glimpses of progress, Thalía Margarita managed to get Armelle and Nidia to deposit money, peso by peso. The couple didn’t realize they’d been scammed until three days before last Christmas.
The manager of the villa where the wedding was to be held called them to warn them that if they didn’t pay immediately, the reservation would be canceled. “That’s when the bomb exploded,” Nidia recalls.
The couple called the wedding planner and demanded an explanation. She said it wasn’t true, that she would bring them the receipts, that everything would be cleared up.
When the brides saw the documents, they noticed that the names of the deposit account holders didn’t match the service providers and asked that she not make the payments, but rather the brides themselves.
For the wedding dress, Thalía Margarita made appointments for them to take measurements, choose fabrics and designs; for the banquet drinks, she brought them some bottles and promised that she would have everything soon.
After the call from the villa, the couple called the providers one by one and thus learned that the payments they had made were not for her or for several others. Then, the couple summoned their provider to confront her. They called the providers in front of her, and the answer was the same: they hadn’t paid.
She swore that it hadn’t been with bad intentions and, with a trembling hand, signed a promissory note committing to return the money.
Then she disappeared, leaving the brides-to-be in a state of shock: they wouldn’t eat, they wouldn’t sleep, they spent their time crying. But little by little, they have recovered, found the courage to file a lawsuit, and wanted to share their story.
One modus operandi, many victims
In her Jalisco escapade, Thalía Margarita allegedly pocketed around two million pesos, based solely on the estimated amount defrauded from the brides-to-be who have come forward: it’s not easy for the defrauded to stand up and say they were robbed.
Armelle and Nidia accepted the double payment for their mistakes, but hid their grief from most of the 110 loved ones who attended the celebration in Puerto Vallarta. The other couple, represented by lawyer Spencer, chose to give their version of events to the public prosecutor, but declined to repeat their testimony to this newspaper.
In an attempt to forget, the American soldier took his wife to another location, on a work-related mission, far from the legal proceedings in the country where he had intended to marry her.
In contrast, Alicia de Loza, who represents the group of Mexicans defrauded by Thalía Margarita, publicly denounced the situation: she was robbed in her shopper business, which involves buying merchandise in the United States on commission.
She says she fell into her trap because the criminal first did everything to gain her trust. She would place orders and pay her promptly. Eventually, she asked Alicia to deliver two video game consoles, designer clothing, handbags, and shoes on credit, totaling 80,000 pesos.
She claimed the bank had frozen her accounts, that she would pay in cash, and that she would travel from Puebla to Guadalajara to pick up the items, but months passed and she never did. At Alicia’s insistence, Thalía Margarita sent her a photo of herself holding a large amount of cash.
“Don’t believe her, she’ll say she was robbed,” Alicia’s mother warned. And that’s exactly what she said when Thalía Margarita arrived at the door at 6:00 a.m. to collect the merchandise, crying and promising to make an online transfer. She even sent Alicia a receipt for the transaction, which turned out to be a fabrication.
With little shame and a lot of anger, Alicia launched a TikTok campaign alongside her legal complaint. Through the social network, she learned of similar cases in Puebla. A woman told her that she had rented a furnished apartment to Thalía Margarita, who then sold all the furniture, including the refrigerator, the bed, and the dining table.
How to avoid being scammed at your wedding and not become the next victim?
Attorney Spencer believes, based on his experience, that scams generally begin to take root with a lack of due diligence on the profiles of service providers.
“People assume they’ll be trustworthy based on simple references,” he says, but then the scams are fueled by the lack of contracts and the belief that they’re saving money.
“The problem is that, when they’re foreigners, they try to charge more,” he observes.
Guests spend around a thousand dollars per person at these weddings. (Photo: special)
Suri Mendicuti, from the IADWP, agrees, emphasizing that one way to protect yourself against these potential crimes is to consult with international, national, or local organizations to verify information.
“As associations, we know it’s a multi-million dollar industry that requires a lot of attention. That’s why we ensure our members have good practices, codes of ethics, and sustainable practices. Here’s a piece of advice: for destination weddings, you should seek out professionals and not be swayed by any price.”
Armell and Nidia finally got married on February 8th. They hired a DJ, a photographer, a banquet featuring French delicacies from Chez Nene in Guadalajara, and other chefs from Puerto Vallarta, but the fact that they had to pay for everything twice bothered them, so they shared their story with MILENIO.
“We don’t want this to happen to anyone else on what could be the most important day of their life,” the couple said.
Source: Milenio
