Two More Timeshare Frauds on McCollum’s “Hit List”
by Transfer America on November 18th, 2010
filed under Transfer America
In West Palm Beach, Florida today Attorney General Bill McCollum has charged two men from two separate crooked timeshare companies with fraudulent attempts at scamming hard-working Floridian men and women out of money.
The two men, Kevin Bates and Anthony Passaro are both managers for Inbound Marketing Advisors and Fortune Property Management & Investments respectively. They are being charged first and foremost for charging their clients an upfront fee of around $1,500 which they claimed would be going toward recovering their money that they lost when they paid other companies who promised that they would sell their timeshare for them.
These two companies were operating under several different names as well so as to get as much money from consumers as possible. The other names for these companies were American Recovery Task Force and National Recovery Task Force and these two were being run in Boca Raton and Delray Beach respectively.
The scam that the men are running is as thus. They bought the list of contacts from other timeshare resale companies that claimed they were going to get people out of their timeshares, took their money, and then did nothing. They then began calling these people and telling them that they would be able to recoup their lost money back from these companies so long as they pay another small, upfront fee. While these men were making out their calls, they claimed that they were actually working with the attorney general’s office says McCollum, who is now trying to get the men and their companies brought to justice.
When they were making their calls, Bates, Passaro, and those working for them told their potential clients that they were working on behalf of the attorney general’s office and that they had given them the names to help them get the refunds that they were entitled to. These two companies have taken millions of dollars from consumers using deceitful practices and McCollum has begun taking action. McCollum has just begun seeking injunctions, restitutions, and civil penalties in between $10,000 and $15,000 to each violated timeshare owner. McCollum is also attempting to immediately dissolve both companies as well.
Wisconsin BBB Warns Timeshare Owners of Resale Firms
by Transfer America on November 15th, 2010
filed under Transfer America
In St. Louis, Missouri last week, several cases of fraudulent timeshare resale companies surfaced and were so wide-spread that law enforcement agents could hardly even keep up.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently reported that the number of complaints in regards to the timeshare resale industry have tripled since 2008, a staggering statistic considering how well the industry appeared to be doing before that. Most of these reported cases were about businesses charging timeshare owners fees upfront, before they so much as lifted a finger. Because so many timeshare owners out there today are desperate to get rid of these expensive long-term contracts in this struggling economy, they were quick to accept any offers for help without asking the right questions.
The Task Force behind the Better Business Bureau urges timeshare owners who looking to get out of their timeshare to be wary of working with a company that says that they have either already sold your timeshare for you, or that they are certain that they can sell your timeshare before taking an adequate amount of time to look at the timeshare deed itself.
Some typical examples of the growing timeshare problem:
- June A man in the state of Texas reported that he used a timeshare resale company and gave them over $6,000 to sell his timeshare for him. The company promised that they had buyers for him, but ultimately just took his money and did nothing. The company told the man that their office’s address was that of a vacant and dilapidated office building in downtown St. Louis.
- July In Missouri, a grand jury returned federal indictments against three separate companies that used telemarketing schemes that targeted timeshare owners throughout the entire United States. The U.S. attorney’s office has said that the company scammed more than $1.3 million dollars from 615 customers in 46 states and even Canada.
- September Because of a huge crackdown on the timeshare industry in Florida, the state with the largest number of timeshares, seven companies have been closed and four people have been arrested. One of these companies was International Resort Sellers LLC, who had their address listed in Westport entertainment and office complex in northwest St. Louis County which was designed just to mislead the public and elude investigators.
Timeshare fraud has been feeding off of the weak economy and lack of timeshare sales of the past two years and many victims have begun reporting it to law enforcement officials and to the Better Business Bureau. Many reported believing their company was legitimate because of smooth talking sales representatives. The BBB warns timeshare owners interested in getting out of their timeshare to make sure and ask the right questions of the company they are going to use before handing over any money. Make sure the company has a strong BBB rating, has been around for a while, can provide testimonials from previous customers, has an address you can confirm, and is not telling you that you have to do the deal that day or it goes away. For further questions, contact your state BBB.