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Another potential scam alert has been reported following the same general scheme where a high dollar sale or rental offer is received from a company called either Sierra Resort Services or Sierra Corporate Sales and Rentals. The timeshare owner is then told that they must prepay an escrow fee to a closing company out of Mexico called Gibraltar Escrow. After this fee is paid, the owner is then later called and told that a new tax is now required by Mexico which requires another payment from the timeshare owner. After more money is wired from the consumer, the closing never occurs and no refunds are given..
If you have been the victim of any type of timeshare related fraud or scam, help warn others by contacting us Possible timeshare fraud alert: International Event Coordinators and Resort Escrow Exchange!12/3/2010
Reports are again surfacing that timeshare owners are being scammed in a timeshare rental or resale scheme involving these companies. Timeshare owners are being called with either rental or sale offers that are far higher than should be reasonably expected in the current market. Victims are told that they must agree to an "escrow fee" which is to be paid in advance to Resort Escrow Exchange in order to proceed with the transaction. Once the fee is paid, the transaction never closes and the consumer's payment is not refunded.
The original fraud alert from August with details on the scheme and these companies can be read HERE! As always, the best advice to avoid these types of scams is to never pay any type of upfront fee to sell or rent a timeshare property. In a traditional real estate transaction, the buyer is the party who provides a good faith deposit to open an escrow account with a legitimate closing company. Any seller escrow, transaction, or broker fees are then deducted from their proceeds at closing. The timeshare sale process should be very similar to a residential sale process. If you receive an offer and it requires you to submit a payment to a closing company you do not recognize, make sure you research the validity of the company in question- or simply refuse to do business until another closing agent is chosen. There are numerous well known title companies that offer escrow service for timeshare transactions, such as First American Title Company. The latest type of scammers preying on timeshare owners are companies pretending to be consumer advocacy groups or even legal advisors.
A recent article in the Courthouse News details the Florida Attorney General's action to stop just another aspect of timeshare scams. The complete article is HERE. ....In a brazen fraud, the Florida attorney general says, two men paid crooked companies that had ripped people off in timeshare frauds for a "hit list" of their victims, then victimized them again by charging upfront fees of $1,500 apiece to "recover" their money - and claimed to be working with the Florida attorney general while they did it. Attorney General Bill McCollum sued Kevin Bates and Anthony Passaro, managers, respectively, of Inbound Marketing Advisors and Fortune Property Management & Investments. Their companies operate under other names too, including American Recovery Task Force and National Recovery Task Force, the attorney general claims in Palm Beach County Court..... Another similar report shows an active investigation is underway of Legal Refund, Inc (Marlene A. Guzman- Owner) who operated out of West Palm Beach. This case is being handled by the Attorney General's Economic Crimes Division in West Palm Beach. As always- the best advise is the simplest way to avoid the vast majority of timeshare related scams.. NEVER pay any type of upfront fee for any service related to timeshare marketing! Timeshare Express Management in Winter Garden, Florida has recently been discussed on the Ripoff Report website as a possible upfront fee scam. A timeshare owner has claimed that they received an unsolicited call from the company in September with a purchase offer for their unwanted timeshare week. The consumer claims that they were told that to begin the title work, they needed to pay $1,298. in upfront fees. After sending in the money, the consumer is reporting that no sale occurred and they are no longer able to reach the company in question.
Another consumer on the same website filed an earlier report claiming to have been scammed out of a $1341.76 upfront fee with again- no results or sale! To protect yourself from timeshare scams, always remember to NEVER pay any type of upfront fee for advertising, closing costs, advance commission, or any other reason. In July, the United States Justice Department filed suit against three Florida men who operated Real Timeshare Marketing, charging they represented that they had buyers for time-share units, solicited "closing costs" from consumers and then pocketed the funds. Justice Department attorneys said the scheme fleeced more than 600 victims of more than $1.3 million between Dec. 1, 2009, and April 28.
The indictment names Darnell Disroe, Michael Lentine, and Michael Starace as defendants. Click HERE for the latest update on these cases from the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Illinois. This case is further proof that reporting these scams is the number one way to stop them! DISROE, LENTINE, and STARACE were each charged with conspiracy to commit certain offenses against the United States and mail fraud. In addition, DISROE and LENTINE each face four counts of mail fraud and STARACE faces a single count of mail fraud. Each count carries a penalty of up to 25 years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000.00, or both, and a term of supervised release of up to five years on each count. Sentencing is set for as early as January 7, 2011. Update: It is now reprted that all three have pled guilty and await sentencing. Massachusetts Attorney General obtains an injunction against Timeshare Consulting Group, LLC11/10/2010
Read the full press release HERE!
.............In a separate but related lawsuit filed on August 2, 2010, in Suffolk Superior Court, AG Coakley obtained a preliminary injunction against a Cape Cod man and his business. According to the complaint Christopher Moss and the company he founded, Timeshare Consulting Group, LLC, promised consumers he could obtain full refunds of the purchase price for their respective time-shares because the Cape Cod Resorts owners’ failed to record the time-share intervals. Moss allegedly misrepresented to consumers that he was an expert in time-share and consumer law and solicited consumers by mail, telephone, and face-to-face meetings, for his services as a time-share consultant. Moss allegedly collected $495 from consumers who had purchased time-share intervals at the Cape Cod Resorts in order to prepare complaint letters to send to the Attorney General’s Office and the Cape Cod Resort owners. The complaint alleges that Moss solicited consumers for his services by deceptively representing the complexity of the complaint process, and urging consumers to hurry because the statute of limitations on their claims would soon expire. Moss did not disclose that consumers are able to file complaints with the Attorney General at no charge. On August 12, 2010, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frank Gaziano granted a preliminary injunction against Moss and Timeshare Consulting Group, prohibiting them from representing that they are time-share law experts; contacting any Massachusetts resident to offer time-share consulting services; soliciting or accepting a payment for filing complaint forms with the Attorney General’s Office; and engaging in the unauthorized practice of law............... These matters are being handled by Assistant Attorney General Emily Armstrong with assistance from Paralegal Lois Martin, both of Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Consumer Protection Division. The Florida Attorney General Economic Crimes Division in Orlando, FL has posted that they are currently investigating BOGNOTTI INDUSTRIES, LLC, d/b/a "Today's Mexico Rentals," f/k/a THE VILLA TRADER, INC. for possible unconscionable acts or practices, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce.
Complaints have been received stating that company representatives call timeshare owners and tell them that they have a buyer for their unwanted timeshare week. They then ask for a large upfront fee payment for transfer fees and legal searches. The contract that is then sent to the consumer is strictly for marketing services- and is not a purchase and sale contract. See the original notice from the Attorney General HERE Read the full press release from the FTC by clicking HERE....
According to the FTC’s complaint, Timeshare Mega Media, two related companies, and six individuals used a telemarketing boiler room in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They told timeshare owners who were attempting to sell their units that a buyer was lined up and a deal had been negotiated on their behalf, but that before the sale could be completed, consumers would have to pay an up-front fee, usually $1,996, by credit card. The FTC’s complaint charges that Timeshare Mega Media’s representatives typically claimed the fee was for sale-related costs, such as realtor fees, closing costs, title searches, or document processing. They also told consumers that this fee would be refunded at closing. In some cases, if a consumer owned an expensive timeshare, the fee could be more than $1,996, ranging up to 10 percent of the asking price. Consumers also were told that their timeshare sales would close quickly, often in as few as 30 days. The FTC alleges that, after the consumers paid the fee, they were told to expect a contract from Timeshare Mega Media. What they received turned out to be a contract to market and advertise their timeshare, and not a sales contract. According to the FTC’s complaint, many consumers signed and returned the contract thinking it was a sales contract. Those who questioned its validity were given the run-around by the company and falsely told that a sales contract would follow. In fact, according to the agency, the company never had any timeshare buyers lined up. When consumers discovered this and demanded their money back, they found it nearly impossible to get a refund, or even get a call back. The FTC’s complaint was filed against Timeshare Mega Media and Marketing Group, Inc., also doing business as (d/b/a) Timeshare Market Pro, Inc.; Timeshare Market Pro, Inc.; Tapia Consulting, Inc.; Joseph Crapella, also known as Joseph John Philbin; Pasquale Pappalardo; Lisa Tumminia Pappalardo; Pasqualino Agovino; Louis Tobias Duany; and Patricia A. Walker. Saw a new scam alert today that seems to be happening at numerous hotels and resorts across the United States.. The scammers create flyers for a fake pizza company and distribute them under hotel doors and on windshields in tourist areas. When you call the number to order a pizza- they take your credit card information over the phone, but never deliver a pizza.. A guest a Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge posted this on a timeshare forum, and I've also seen three other mentions of the same scam on travel blogs and news sites..
As always, make sure you know who is on the other side of the phone before giving any personal information or credit card numbers. |
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