Scam Alerts!
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A reader has submitted a possible new telemarketing scam that may be targeting timeshare owners. Based on the reader's description, it appears to be another version of the "bonus weeks" rental scam that has been reported many times in the past. A telemarketer cold calls and states that you have "unused bonus weeks" with an exchange company they need for rentals. They ask you to pay some version of "activation" fees for the number of weeks you would like to rent- and verbally promise large rental payments a set period of time after you've paid this fee. This timeline normally occurs after your credit card dispute period ends- leaving you no true recourse if the promised rentals never occur.
If you believe that you have been a victim of telemarketing or mail fraud perpetrated by this group, please report the possible crime to the state of Florida at https://www.myfloridacfo.com/safe/report-fraud-and-scams. You can also report the issue to the Seminole County Financial Crimes Task Force at (407) 665-6650. "..... I received a very similar call to those above on 9/28/23. The company was called Orlando Stay Accomodations, osarentals.com. They looked legit, but the deal sounded too good to be true. Their website, which they directed me to, looks legit and professional, and when I questioned the caller, they had all of the right answers to make me think that a company doing this is a possibility. But, my scam radar, "too good to be true," kicked in. I called RCI (which OSA says they work closely) and they told me it was a scam. So beware...." - JS
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A reader has submitted a new potential timeshare scam alert about a business using the website VacationRentalSpots (dot)com and reportedly using an address in Norcross, Georgia.
"... Received a cold call from Cathy Fioto of Vacation Rental Spots (vacationrentalspots.com) telling me I could activate RCI vacation weeks at $399 a week, so they could re-rent these weeks to corporations. Said I could get a net profit of $6006 dollars if I paid $2394 up front to "activate" the weeks. This is a scam. Run!..." When searching public records, the same address being used for VacationRentalSpots also shows for the registered business, International Corporate Rentals LLC with the following registration info: "International Corporate Rentals LLC is a Georgia Domestic Limited-Liability Company filed on November 22, 2022. The company's filing status is listed as Active/Compliance and its File Number is 22246560. The Registered Agent on file for this company is Alan Huang and is located at 1810 Sunset Harbour Point, Lawrenceville, GA 30043. The company's principal address is 7094 Peachtree Industrial Blvd Suite 138, Norcross, GA 30071." The alert describes the same old "bonus week rental" scam that has been reported on these pages many, many times. You can review some of these similar telemarketing scams at: https://vacation-times.org/timeshare_scams/category/bonus-week-scam If you believe that have been the victim of fraud perpetrated by this company, please take the time to report it to the Gwinnett County Sheriffs office as well as the Federal Trade Commission which investigates telemarketing based crimes. If you are over sixty years of age, I would also urge you to file a complaint with the FBI internet crime division under Elder Fraud at: https://www.ic3.gov A reader has submitted a new potential timeshare scam alert about a business using the name Sun Rental Connections and reportedly using an address in Longwood, Florida. The alert shows the same old "bonus week rental" scam that has been reported on these pages many times. If you believe that have been the victim of fraud perpetrated by this company, please take the time to report it to the Seminole County Sheriffs office as well as the Federal Trade Commission which investigates telemarketing based crimes. You can also file a complaint with the local Better Business Bureau at https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint/0733-235957551.
..."I was contacted by Christopher Gilmore from Sun Rental Connections, phone number 800-625-9819 and 689-223-5570 claiming to want to rent my RCI extra weeks. Claims to give a 60 to 90 days return on my 8 week rental if I pay 2,394 upfront to receive 8,406 net profit once they have rented my weeks out to corporate clients. I knew this was a scam, and said so I did not give him money. I looked up the company and it’s only been in business since Dec. 28, 2022. Also the phone number has been listed under Gh Rentals Connections, Longwood, FL..." Scam alert: United States sanctions eight Mexican companies tied to timeshare related fraud3/3/2023 U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned eight Mexican companies linked to timeshare fraud on behalf of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). CJNG is a violent Mexico-based organization that traffics a significant proportion of the illicit fentanyl and other deadly drugs that enter the United States. Today’s action is the result of a collaboration between the United States and the Government of Mexico.
“As CJNG has consolidated territory over the past decade, it has added other crimes to its core activity of drug trafficking,” said OFAC Director Andrea M. Gacki. “In tourist destinations such as Puerto Vallarta, CJNG has become heavily engaged in timeshare fraud, which often targets U.S. citizens"... Although there are different types of timeshare fraud, the schemes often involve the following: (1) third-party scammers, who claim to have ready buyers, make unsolicited purchase offers to timeshare owners; (2) if offers are accepted, scammers make requests of timeshare owners for payments of advance fees and taxes, supposedly to facilitate or expedite the sale with assurances of reimbursement upon closing; and (3) once multiple payments have been made to the scammers, timeshare owners eventually realize that the offers were fictitious, that there are no buyers, and that their money is gone. The eight companies designated today, which are linked directly or indirectly to CJNG’s timeshare fraud activities, claim to be financial services or real estate companies. Five of the companies—Servicios Administrativos Fordtwoo, S.A. de C.V., Integracion Badeva, S.A. de C.V., JM Providers Office, S.A. de C.V., Promotora Vallarta One, S.A. de C.V., and Recservi, S.A. de C.V.—are based in or near Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. Servicios Administrativos Fordtwoo, S.A. de C.V. has also made direct payments to CJNG members.... The remaining companies designated today—Corporativo Title I, S.A. de C.V., Corporativo TS Business Inc, S.A. de C.V., and TS Business Corporativo, S.A. de C.V.—are based in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. A reader has submitted a new potential timeshare scam alert about a business using the name Grayscale Marketing Source. The alert shows the same old "bonus week rental" scam that has been reported on these pages many times. If you believe that have been the victim of fraud perpetrated by this company, please take the time to report it to the Orange County Sheriffs office as well as the Federal Trade Commission which investigates telemarketing based crimes.
".... We just fell for this one. A company called Grayscale Marketing Source said we had 12 unused weeks through RCI. To activate the weeks we would have to pay $399 for each week but we could make between $1600 and $1800 for each week that rented out go interested corporate people. They had docusign paperwork that went along with it and what tipped me off that it was a scam was that their website was not very good. So I googled If we were even allowed to rent out our RCI weeks like this and then I found this thread. I went to freeze my card but the charge is already pending. I called my bank and they said they can’t do anything until either the charge goes through or cancels itself.... LianaM" Did this alert help you? If so, please consider donating one dollar to help fund this website! A reader has submitted a potential timeshare scam alert about a telemarketing business operating under the name of Ocean City Rentals but claiming to be located in Titusville, Florida. It's appears to be the same old "bonus week" rental scam that has been reported in these pages multiple times. However, since it is using an address for a shared office facility- it may be easier for authorities to investigate and indentify the con artist. The submitted scam alert is below, but if you also believe you've been a victim of a crime perpetrated by this business- please take the time to report the crime to the Brevard County Sheriffs office as well as the Federal Trade Commission which investigates telemarketing based crimes.
"...... I received a call from an alleged company called Ocean City Rentals from Titusville, FL saying they would resell my 6 RCI Bonus Weeks to corporate representatives for approximately $1400 a week if I paid $2394 and agreed to have them resell these week. They assured me they would be able to do this within 30-60 days and already had a corporate purchaser ready once they were able to obtain enough weeks. The representative that discussed this with me was Andrew (Drew) Burns at phone number 689-800-6435 and he claimed the business was located at OceanCityRentals.net, 323 S Washington Ave., Titusville, FL 32796........" Did this alert help you? If so, please consider donating one dollar to help fund this website! A reader has submitted an alert for a possible telemarketing scam using the name Advance Travel Network, and using the same old "we can rent your bonus weeks" script.
"...We were contacted by advance travel network the same day we had our first conversation with Interval international. ATN offered to sell 4 weeks of our timeshare. They said we just had to pay for their marketing and we would receive $1800 per week for our timeshare. They are in Florida and there are a lot of conferences and they need rooms. We have them the money and they haven’t sold our rooms and said that we can’t be refunded our original deposit. So I did some digging. They aren’t registered with BBB and they are licensed as a telemarketing company, not a travel agency. This is a complete scam. Do not fall for it...." JaimeC Did this alert help you? If so, please consider donating one dollar to help fund this website! A reader submitted a new potential fraud alert, and one that is especially concerning since it reportedly seems to involve a possible data breach with RCI Travel. The con artist is reported to have very specific details about a planned cruise through RCI Travel, and calls to customer to collect "final payment".
"..... someone posing as an RCI agent from RCI Travel called me for me to take my final payment on an RCI cruise scheduled in Jan. 2023. Stated he couldn't accept a cc for the final payment and suggested I could use ZELLE(which I knew nothing about) I trusted him as he had all my information, which I did NOT give him. He instructed me how to make payments through ZELLE from my checking account. My account was depleted $2872.00. I have filed a dispute with my bank and have been denied. I also filed with RCI Travel and they stated, it was out of their hands and the bank needed to handle. I am a 77 year old senior citizen and live on a tight budget. This is an horrible injustice and someone needs to be held accountable!!!!!! I have no way to send all of my documentation by email but I can mail everything or fax to someone. Please respond with information of what I need to do. I NEED HELP!!!!!!....." If someone has stolen detailed information from RCI Travel and is using it to scam cruise customers, hopefully this warning may help protect others from the same scam. I would urge you to report the crime to your local authorities so you have a police report filed and provide a copy of that document to your bank. Telephone scams should also be reported to the Federal Trade Commission. Report telephone scams online to the Federal Trade Commission. You can also call 1-877-382-4357 (TTY: 1-866-653-4261). The FTC is the primary government agency that collects phone based scam complaints. You may also want to try and report the crime to the FBI’s internet crime division at the website https://www.ic3.gov/ Finally, if you have some type of written documentation or proof that the con artist had access to your private information about your RCI Travel purchase- you may also want to contact a local attorney and ask them to send a demand letter on your behalf. Regardless of the cause of a security breach, consumers have the right to file a complaint or lawsuit against a business that failed to protect their information. You would have to be able to provide proof that the information specifically came from RCI Travel. As a general rule for consumers- AVOID ALL CASH APP TRANSACTIONS such as Zelle, Venmo, Chase Pay, PayPal friends and family, etc. The safest way to pay for a purchase or service is by using a traditional credit card which would allow you to dispute the payment if needed. Did this alert help you? If so, please consider donating one dollar to help fund this website! A reader has submitted a new timeshare scam alert about a Florida telemarketer currently allegedly operating under the name of International Corporate Lodging and using the website icorplodging.com. The phone pitch is described as the standard "rent your rci bonus weeks" scam, asking for a large upfront fee to rent those imaginary bonus weeks. However, the contract is a standard online marketing agreement- with no mention of any specific rentals. The absolute best advice I can give remains the same- "ALL TELEMARKETING CALLS ABOUT YOUR TIMESHARE ARE A SCAM! HANG UP THE PHONE!".. If you do insist on taking the call and talking to the telemarketer, please at least take time to review the contract before making any type of payment. If the contract doesn't say exactly what the telemarketer promised- that should be a easy giveaway that the promise is a telemarketing scam.... Here is the reader's alert:
"....... Someone from ICL or "International Corporate Lodging" cold called us with an offer to rent our "extra vacation weeks" with RCI for us to business travelers in the Orlando area. All I had to do was agree to pay $2,394 upfront (399/week for 6 timeshare weeks) and in 60-90 days I could expect to receive cashiers' checks for $1,400/week ($8,400 total). They knew enough about my Wyndham/RCI membership to sound legitimate, showed me their website (icorplodging.com), and even had a "3rd party verification" process to help support their legitimacy. The sales woman who called gave her name as HEATHER POOL and provided the same number and address as listed on the fake website. That number is (866) 601-6601, but her REAL phone number is (689) 207-5183. ICL is not accredited with the BBB but the BBB has fielded several complaints about this scam. I have attached a copy of the agreement they attempted to convince me to sign so they could charge my credit card $2,394....." If you believe that you have been the victim of telemarketing fraud from this business, please take a moment to report the crime to the Florida Attorney General. Did this alert help you? If so, please consider donating one dollar to help fund this website! Resort rental industries offer to advertise timeshare for 180 days with a guarantee they would get me offers if not they would refund my cost $996.00 I call no less than 8 times and leave messages but no one contacting me back. Now the phone goes just to a busy signal and web site is no longer accessible.
.......WalterK This business was reported by a reader as a possible scam almost a year ago, and was again submitted for the same possible complaint. The company appears to have already closed according to the local better business bureau, but these organizations do have a tendency to rebrand and reopen under a new name so it's important to be familiar with the language used to entice consumers. Upon review of the advertising documents the contract did appear to include necessary disclaimers for timeshare advertising businesses that charge an upfront advertising fee. Included in those documents was the following statement, "...The ratio of the number of timeshare interest listings for sale versus the number of timeshare interests sold by Resort Rental Industries is zero for each of the previous two calendar years..." So it does appear that the company (at least in the written contract itself) admitted to not selling any timeshares for each of the past two years. It is just one small clause in a multi-page document, but should serve as a vivid reminder for consumers to ALWAYS fully read and review documents prior to agreeing to any type of advertising contract. And as has been recommended on these pages many, many times: NEVER PAY ANY TYPE OF LARGE UPFRONT FEE TO SELL OR RENT YOUR TIMESHARE! Did this alert help you? If so, please consider donating one dollar to help fund this website! |
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