Los Viagras Cartel Forcing Michoacan Locals to Pay for Bootleg Wi-Fi

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Illegal Wi-Fi signal repeater antennas were located in the supervised properties. Intelligence areas report that these antennas were operated by the group “Los Viagras,” who forced the locals to pay high rates to access the networks.

Three search warrants were executed in Apatzingán and Buenavista, in the Tierra Caliente region. 

Dubbed “narco-antennas” by local media, the cartel’s system involved internet antennas set up in various towns built with stolen equipment.

Los Viagras charged approximately 5,000 people elevated prices between 400 and 500 pesos ($25 to $30) a month, meaning the group could rake in around $150,000 a month. The average price per month for legitimate WiFi internet service is less, at around $20 per month.

People were terrorized “to contract the internet services at excessive costs, under the claim that they would be killed if they did not,” prosecutors said.

Law enforcement seized the equipment late last week and shared photos of the makeshift antennas and piles of equipment and routers with the labels of the Mexican internet company Telmex, owned by powerful Mexican businessman Carlos Slim.

They also prevented the entry of tech companies that maintain internet stations and intimidated the companies' workers and the citizens who hired their services. In one of the places searched, a person guarding the property was arrested.

Sources Heraldo de Mexico, AP News