One couple, Ms. Diana Lim and her husband Mr. Andrew Cheang, were unfortunate enough to be on the discovering end of the newest of timeshare scam tactics when they received a call from a company called D.R.I. & Chia Partners & Associates who offered them to recover their investment on a timeshare they had just purchased last year.

The couple paid $9,100 for their timeshare in the year 2008 for a timeshare with Concepts Vacation Club with Garraway Enterprises and has recently been interested in getting out of the timeshare for financial reasons. But, when the couple received their call from D.R.I., they were told that the timeshare property was now worth $28,000 and that they would help them resell the timeshare.

A woman who identified herself as a legal counsel for D.R.I, Katrina Moss, said that they were in fact a legal firm and very legitimate. The company did eventually prove to be yet another “bogus law firm” making cold calls to investors and telling them that their timeshare had accrued value and that if they sold with them, they would become very rich. Of course most timeshare owners today now that the timeshare industry has been struggling for several years now and it is highly unlikely for any timeshare to be going up in value in today’s downturned economy.

Nevertheless, D.R.I. was successful in claiming themselves to be a highly respected law firm and getting the Cheangs to place a $500 deposit with them as well as another $7,000 to be paid later. This is apparently one of the newest trends in the old timeshare resale scam market and timeshare owners should be very weary.  According to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, D.R.I. used to also be known as Gina’s Peranakan Restaurant & Pub, an interesting piece of trivia.

Case executives are saying that while there have only been a few cases of parties claiming to be lawyers or from a law firm in order to gain reputability and then tell timeshare owners they need a deposit in order for them to sell their timeshare for a huge profit. The timeshare industry has topped CASE’s complaints list for the past six years running.  From just January to November, they have seen 1,844 timeshare cases.

While it has been no secret that many timeshare resale companies advertising that they will sell your timeshare for you or any other timeshare related scams have been around for quite some time, the couple’s experience is a perfect example of how these approaches are varying.

List of companies in Singapore that European trade body for timeshare, the Resort Development Organisation, has received complaints against.

- Services Pte Ltd.

- Vision Solutions

- I- Generic Pte. Ltd.

- Worldex Asia

- Worldex Pte. Ltd.

- Asian Travel Group

- Holiday Plus

- Hayward Ventures Ltd.

- Garraway Enterprises

- Colonial Strategies

- River Marketing Ltd.

- Beaufort Park

- St. George Group

- Global Securities

- Colonial Securities

- Mgi Luxury Pte

- United Wealth Management