Posts filed under 'Avoiding Timeshare Scams'
During the last week, timeshare resale related stories have appeared in the news twice – which is actually a lot for a niche industry! Additionally, both stories relate to previous posts here at Helptimeshare.com:
The Good
Back in May, I pointed out the threat posed to timeshare owners by timeshare recovery companies. Yesterday this issue was highlighted in an article by Diane Lade of the Sun Sentinel. In it, she states that the “Florida Attorney General has received more than 600 complaints in the past 12 months” regarding recovery companies. While it’s great to see these fraudulent entities receiving some attention from the media and regulators, I have to wonder how many thousands of timeshare owners have been victimized in the four months since I originally reported on the problem. Lade goes on to point out that some timeshare resale companies have “closed down but then reopened as a timeshare recovery business” – an astute observation echoing my post describing a recovery company as “a failed timeshare resale company.”
According to Lade, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumers Services regulators are hard-at-work investigating “about 20 timeshare recovery businesses.” Hopefully, these efforts will protect timeshare owners from being conned out of their hard-earned money. …and Kudos to Lade and the Sun Sentinel for calling attention to this phenomenon!
The Bad
On September 3rd, an article by Jon Burnstein (also of the Sun Sentinel), provided some follow-up information on the ongoing timeshare fraud saga of Timeshare Mega Media. In what the FTC has called a “naked fraud,” Timeshare Mega Media contacted timeshare owners claiming “we have a buyer for your timeshare.” According to Burnstein, the operation collected an “estimated $5 million in less than a year,” before closing their doors in May 2010. Not to sound like a broken record, but HelpTimeshare.com reported on the “It’s Already Sold” scam back in February of 2010. Apparently, our warning went unheeded by some 10,000+ consumers in Florida alone… More to the point of why I consider this a ‘bad’ story, Burnstein repeatedly refers to Timeshare Mega Media as a “timeshare resale company.” He goes on to refer to the timeshare resale industry as “fraud-riddled,” and states that “many of the unscrupulous resale companies operate the same way.” I suggest that, for anyone in the media, using this sort of language is, at best, irresponsible: Timeshare Mega Media was clearly anything but a timeshare resale company. According to Burnstein’s own article the company was no more than a criminal front, operated not by timeshare industry professionals but by felons and associates of major crime families.
Please, call them “fake” timeshare resale companies or something, but a distinction needs to be drawn by the media between criminals and timeshare resale companies. There is nothing to suggest Timeshare Mega Media, or its affiliates, had any connection whatsoever to the actual timeshare resale industry. No one in the press refers to the Swiss Watch Industry as “fraud-riddled,” though fake Rolex watches are still a-dime-a-dozen throughout the U.S.
September 7th, 2011
Timeshare recovery companies pose a new threat to timeshare owners; undermining resale values, and negatively affecting public trust in the secondary timeshare market.
Timeshare resales are still relatively new; after all, timeshare itself has only been in America for around 30 years. Added to that, there was no affordable way to mass-market anything prior to the advent of the Internet, or more specifically before Google defined the modern search engine. For all intents and purposes then, the secondary market for timeshares is about 10 years old. As with any emerging market, timeshare resale has faced obstacles and impediments, along with some spectacular successes. Owners that decide to sell find themselves faced with conflicting information, an abundance of uncertainty, and, yes, some scams to be avoided.
While most objective observers will admit that timeshare scams are the exception, rather than the rule, they exist, and many an unsuspecting owner has been led astray by silver-tongued fraudsters. Thankfully, the timeshare resale market is evolving and growing. Legitimate and committed companies are making a difference every day. That said, owners still have to be careful… Many have paid fees to have their timeshares advertised or marketed, but are still waiting for a buyer. During this time is when I think owners are most vulnerable, and this is the very vulnerability that timeshare recovery companies exploit.
Just what is a timeshare recovery company? Typically a failed timeshare resale company with some sort of loose association with a law firm. These recovery (or timeshare advocacy) companies cold-call timeshare owners offering to ‘recover’ funds paid to a timeshare resale company. The catch is that their services require the owner to pay yet another upfront fee. If that sounds fishy to you, then you’re not alone. In a recent case involving a timeshare recovery company that came before the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, the Judge included the following in his report:
The Court views Plaintiff’s description of its business with some skepticism. The intended customer base includes individuals who previously made disappointing purchases of time share units (often as the result of sophisticated sales techniques) and who thereafter availed themselves of high priced resale services that failed to deliver as promised. Such individuals must be seen a vulnerable population. Plaintiff’s business includes inducing these individuals to purchase yet additional services with respect to their time shares.
Beyond the dubious nature of timeshare recovery companies, the strategies these firms encourage owners to use in order to pursue a refund often constitute criminal behavior! Owners are given form letters, and told to sign and mail them to the timeshare resale company in question. These letters regularly violate state and federal extortion laws, contain slanderous statements, and constitute defamation; making the timeshare owner themselves criminally liable, and subject to prosecution.
There are free and legal ways for owners to address grievances with resale companies. By getting involved with timeshare recovery companies, owners have nothing to gain and potentially everything to lose… Consider yourself warned.
May 26th, 2011
During the last month alone, 3 high-profile timeshare scams have been raided by police in Orlando, Florida. In at least twenty news pieces on these developments, the public has been treated to images of SWAT teams busting down doors, police confiscating computers and printers, and the ubiquitous ‘deal board’ being dragged from a shady office by regulators. Taken at face value, these images may be reassuring; certainly, scandalous Florida-based timeshare resale companies give the industry a bad name. But, it takes a timeshare industry insider to recognize these stories are not good news – not at all. Behind the headlines are regulatory follies that threaten the very existence of a secondary timeshare market.
Exactly one year ago, this blog warned of a timeshare scam designed to convince owners that their properties were ‘already sold.’ Of course, to complete the deal required payment of an enormous up-front fee. Despite our best efforts (and those of numerous other legitimate timeshare companies) to warn timeshare owners, some continue to fall for this obvious fraud. The effects of the ‘It’s Already Sold’ scam have been devastating to real timeshare resale companies: forcing them to become apologists for their now-tarnished industry.
Making matters worse for the industry, reporting on timeshare scams rarely draws a distinction between real timeshare resale companies and criminal fronts. A notable exception is Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who warns of “scammers posing as timeshare resellers,” describing them as “fake.” All too often, descriptions of timeshare-related crimes are so vague and subjective they border on misleading: The Orlando Sentinel quoted police Sgt. Amy Ameye, stating victims “were told If you send money… we will get the paperwork going, we will get your timeshare sold for you” – a statement that could conceivably apply to any timeshare resale company, legitimate or otherwise.
In a press release from July 2010, the Florida Attorney General describes “actively pursuing timeshare resellers as part of a statewide initiative” – a blanket statement that presumably includes all timeshare resale companies. Given Florida’s prejudices, should it really surprise anyone that timeshare scams there have exploded? The State’s witch-hunt regulatory environment leaves no room for legitimate timeshare resale companies.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
The ‘It’s Already Sold’ timeshare scam is clearly a crime that should be prosecuted. Possible Federal and State charges include Grand Theft, Organized Fraud, Intentional False Advertising, Mail Fraud, Wire Fraud, and that’s just for starters. So what crimes were the Orlando timeshare scammers charged with? Unlicensed Telemarketing, a third degree felony in Florida.
In Florida, timeshare resellers fall under the authority of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DOACS), where they are regulated as telemarketing companies. According to DOACS investigator Sasha Velez the problem of timeshare resale scams in Orlando is “huge… We have over 40 to 50 cases unlicensed right now that we are looking into.” Of course, no one asked Ms. Velez the obvious questions:
What if these Orlando timeshare scams had telemarketing licenses? Would you have allowed them to continue defrauding consumers across the country? What if they scammed people in person, or via email?
This is the down-side of excessive regulation; the need for regulators. Folks that may be well-meaning, but just don’t get it. Solutions put forth by the DOACS, and others in Florida, have sought to criminalize the entire timeshare resale industry. The problem in Florida is not timeshare resale companies, it is criminals. If your State has criminals committing wide-scale fraud, the solution is not issuing telemarketing licenses, it is criminal prosecution.
February 16th, 2011
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