On July 11, 2017, in a decision that will likely affect all timeshares and owners of timeshares with properties located in Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal set aside the Tax Court of Canada's decision in the case of Club Intrawest v. Canada. In doing so, the Court of Appeal substituted its own decision to refer GST assessments back to Canada Revenue Agency for reassessment of GST just for services supplied in Canada in relation to vacation homes situated in Canada.  Federal Appeal Court Judges Nadon, Gauthier and Dawson agreed with the Tax Court's finding that a principal-agent relationship does not exist between the club and its 22,000 members. This decision also confirms that members of Club Intrawest (now re-branded Embarc by Diamond Resorts International (DRI)) do not hold beneficial ownership in the real estate and equipment in vacation home resorts and do not control the Club.  The Court found that members merely own a right of occupancy in exchange for their resort points. This contradicts sales presentations, financial and marketing materials by Intrawest Corporation ("Intrawest") and now DRI, to the effect that members have beneficial ownership of vacation homes and control the Club through election of the Board of Directors, responsible for managing the Club's operations.  The ruling will require the club to pay reassessed GST back-taxes for tax years 2002-2007. The GST/HST tax liability for tax years 2008-2016 is unknown at this time.  All timeshare owners with vacation homes in Canada may be impacted by this decision and may also see themselves assessed for back taxes on the supply of services in Canada related to vacation homes situated in Canada.

"Based on a detailed survey answered by more than 400 members, I expect that the majority of our members will be shocked and disappointed that the court found that members have no beneficial ownership in the vacation homes.  About 79% of them remember being told by Intrawest and DRI sales representatives they would own a real estate interest in the resort properties. About 91% of members also remember they were explicitly told that members controlled the Club and that resort properties were vested in a trust for the benefit of members. The Federal Court of Appeal now tells us that no evidence was produced that ownership of these homes has been vested in a trust for the benefit of members", says Patrick Cormier, Volunteers Team Leader of the Club Intrawest Owners Group (Embarc), (CIOG) a grassroots movement of over 3400 members.  "However, it seems clear that the Intrawest/DRI-dominated Board of Directors anticipated the GST liability all along since it began accumulating a C$14 million reserve from members' resort fees under a 2011 Board resolution without informing members until the CIOG raised the GST issue with the Board in 2016".
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Club Intrawest was established by Intrawest Corporation in 1993 as a stand-alone not-for-profit Delaware corporation, but with Intrawest in a controlling position. Intrawest ensured they had control of the Club in several ways, including by granting themselves (as "Declarant" member) a 15 times voting power advantage over individual members guaranteeing Intrawest and now DRI, ongoing and complete control over all aspects of the Club.  In addition, Intrawest and now DRI voted in their own employees on the Club's Board of Directors to maintain a controlling majority on the Board, hired themselves as manager and pay themselves a guaranteed 10 to 15 per cent management fee on all financial transactions.  Club Intrawest (Embarc) members have no control of the club or effective means for recourse, even though members, other than DRI, own 95 per cent of the timeshare points.

​Marco Antonio Ramirez Zuno, 32, of Cancun, Mexico, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in relation to a timeshare resale fraud scheme which targeted consumers who owned timeshares in Mexico.

According to court documents, between 2011 and 2012, Mr. Zuno and others conducted a timeshare resale fraud scheme based in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Sales agents including co‑defendant Juan Montalbo, who also goes by the name of John Monte, conducted sales meetings in Mexico to convince prospective customers to purchase a timeshare vacation package marketed under the names Platinum Access Program or World Luxury Destinations.

The State of Idaho has issued a cease and desist order to a business claiming to resell and transfer timeshares, but which actually just appears to be perpetrating the same old telemarketing and email marketing scam which targets consumers that own timeshare contracts out of Mexico.

The scam details appear to be the same as we've reported in the past:
1) a telemarketing call or an unsolicited email promises to represent a business which is buying timeshare interests at higher than market prices
2) the transaction requires the timeshare owner to use an unknown timeshare "closing" agency
3) the timeshare owners are then told that as the seller they must pay closing costs, escrow fees, and transfer taxes before their proceeds from the sale can be released
4) after the timeshare owner wires money to pay these fake fees and taxes, the timeshare is never transferred and the promised payment to the timeshare owner is never made.

You can read various versions of this same telemarketing scam by clicking the category links to the right related to "Mexican Timeshare". 

The Cease-and-Desist order states that "RELIANT ESCROW TRANSACTION & COORDINATION" claims to be a licensed escrow service operating out of Boise, Idaho. However, the order states that no such license exists, and that the claimed business address does not exist. 

The order also states that the con artists used another fake business as the buying company, "INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS" which claimed to be operating out of Iselin, New Jersey. 

If you believe that you have been the victim of fraud that is related to this case, please contact the Idaho Department of Finance at (208) 332-8000 for information on how to report the crime and provide supporting evidence for possible future prosecution. 

You can view the court order by clicking <HERE>.

Consumers have reported calls from an individual using the name “Ted Davis”, and claiming to be affiliated with a Tampa brokerage, Timeshare Broker Sales. The caller claims to have a buyer for a timeshare, and promises that payment will be sent by a fake closing company called “Vacation Property Closing Services”. Timeshare owners are asked to sign the contract and to make an advance payment for the closing costs ($1198). Please scrutinize all unsolicited calls, emails, and mailers claiming to rid of your timeshare for a fee. Please call (813) 321-3100 if you have any information, or if you have received a telemarketing call from this con artist.
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A new scam alert was just submitted by a reader. This report ties to company names that have been previously reported as possible telemarketing scams, but does include a new website and also details how these con artists will pretend to be employees of, or affilates with, well known brands in the industry to create the illusion of legitimacy. The details of the alert are posted below, but as always- it is vital for timeshare owners to understand that virtually ALL telemarketing calls involving timeshare resales and rentals are fraudulent. Legitimate timeshare brokers DO NOT make unsolicited cold calls!

*****
William L: 

" A sales person from Interval International called me about unused points in Diamond Resorts International. I was not interested in booking Interval rentals so she passed me on to an agent at Universal Marketing located somewhere in Florida. The agent guaranteed me $1250 for each of the 3 weeks I own of unused Diamond points. The forever membership fee was quoted as $1600 for life. The $1250 is a good price/point, but I am very suspicious, since there are several "Universal Marketing............" named on your scam list. I think that this may be just another renaming of a profitable scam, although I do not have facts to substantiate this. The telephone number given to me was 888-825-0113 and their website given was resortstaydeals.com. Do you have information about the trustworthiness of this timeshare marketing company? "

I checked the website registration and found another familiar name: Summit Marketing out of Longwood, Florida. You can view a prior scam alert posted in 2011.  I urged the reader to be very cautious and provided him with a valid contact information to Interval International. He responded later in the day to say that representatives of the exchange company had not contacted him and that there was no affiliation with the telemarketer who had called him.

"Thank you very much for your most prompt reply.  I have contacted two different offices at Interval International, and both responses were the same.  They have not contacted me in several months.  They also stated that what I described is never done by Interval.  Thus the calls must have been part of a phishing  expedition, and I am very appreciative of your interest, help, and recommendations.  Please feel free to use my inquiry on your potential scams list. Many thanks to Vacation-Times.org, which I keep on my favorites list for ready reference. 
William"

A new Mexican timeshare telemarketing scam is being reported by the InsidetheGate website. They posted the following:

"...Financial Intelligence Group, Inc., purportedly working in Buena Park, CA and possibly working in conjunction with Waddell Realty in Georgia — although in both instances it seems likely that the identities of real companies may have been hijacked to give the scammers an appearance of legitimacy.

A near victim of Financial Intelligence happens to have a friend who is an attorney, and that friend looked into the deal for her. The attorney said this to me, “A friend contacted me yesterday about a suspicious telephone call she had received from a David Taylor purporting to represent the Financial Intelligence Group, Inc. in Buena Park, CA, who offered to buy her Mexican timeshare interest at The Grand Mayan for nearly twice the purchase price.
“I advised her that it is a scam. I investigated the website, and learned that this version was created in March 2016, from an IP address that hosts 912 other websites with frequent changes. Under the heading of Commercial Real Estate, I saved the image and found that it was labeled Waddell Realty, a firm out of Columbus, GA, using the images, text and entire pages lifted directly from its website.”
Those are pretty good indications of a scam, and there was a bit more as well to seal the deal. Final conclusion: Yeah, it’s a scam. Stay away from them and do not under any circumstances send them any money!..."

See the original article by clicking HERE.

A reader has submitted a new alert warning about a possible timeshare scam using the business name Real Estate Carolinas LLC. The scam follows the same general tactics used time and again by telemarketing con artists to try and swindle consumers who own a timeshare membership based out of Mexico.  The timeshare owner receives an unsolicited telemarketing call promising a "purchase offer" for a very inflated price. Then, the con artists send what appears to be a legitimate contract, promising no "upfront fees".  However, once the timeshare owner agrees- they are then told that fake "closing costs" and "taxes" must be paid to complete the transaction.  The cons keep promising that a large sum of money is held in escrow and waiting, but of course no actual transfer or sale ever occurs. The single goal of the scam is to bleed as much money in fake fees from the timeshare owner as possible.

These companies continuously change identity, to avoid discovery- but the fraudulent tactics always seem to follow the same few steps. If you own a timeshare membership based out of Mexico and are considering selling your timeshare, always be sure to call your resort management company and ask for a copy of the actual transfer procedure and cost. You can find the phone number for your resort on the last maintenance fee bill you received. For Mexican timeshares, the entire transfer process is handled internally by the management company and simply requires a transfer fee be paid to the resort. No taxes or title fees are needed.

A press release has been issued by the FBI detailing the sentencing of Keith D. Kosco, 57, of Williamsburg, Va., owner and operator of several timeshare transfer businesses which promised to transfer unwanted timeshare ownerships from consumers who no longer wanted the financial responsibility of ownership. The release states that the businesses transferred timeshare deeds to individuals whose identities were stolen, as well as to "straw" buyers who were paid a small fee to accept timeshare transfers but had no intention of paying future maintenance fees. An excerpt of the press release is below. You can read the document in its entirety at: https://www.fbi.gov/norfolk/press-releases/2015/williamsburg-man-sentenced-for-timeshare-fraud