Timeshare Resale Scams Revealed - Beware of the Bogus Buyers

Timeshare Resale Scams - How often have you answered the phone to hear a bubbly voice saying they have a buyer for your Timeshare who is willing to pay a lot more for it than you did? Sounds familiar? Welcome to the murky world of the resale scammers.

The companies involved come in various guises but they all have one common goal – to defraud you of your hard earned cash.

Today’s fraudsters are a sophisticated bunch who are highly skilled at extracting large amounts of cash from recession-hit owners desperate to sell their Timeshare. And that is what makes these con merchants doubly sickening – they prey on the very people who have the most to lose.

Most often the scam process starts with a “cold call”. The professional-sounding caller will inform you that they have a corporate buyer or a wealthy client who is so interested in your Timeshare that they are willing to pay well over the odds for it – often two or three times the original price.

The victim is then directed to a slick website, or sent a copy of the alleged contract, in order to enhance the company’s credibility before the scammer goes in for the kill. Citing a range of fictitious costs – legal fees, tax costs, security bonds, registration fees or administration costs – the fraudster will turn on the pressure to extract an upfront fee, typically somewhere between £500 and £1,500.

What happens next depends on the sophistication of the resale scam company. Some will just disappear leaving an empty office with no forwarding address. Others, with a higher level of organisation, will move onto the next stage of the fraud.

Other scammers have an even more devious way of adding insult to injury. Once the upfront fee is safely in their bank they will contact the seller saying that the buyer has dropped out of the deal. However, the seller should not worry because there is another buyer who is interested in their Timeshare and wants to meet them to finalise the deal.

Once the upfront fee has been paid, the fraudsters will often insist that the seller produces a non-existent tax form that is supposed to be crucial to the sale. When the victim fails to produce it they are deemed to be in default of contract and the resale scam company washes its hands of any obligation to complete the deal.

Other scammers have an even more devious way of adding insult to injury. Once the upfront fee is safely in their bank they will contact the seller saying that the buyer has dropped out of the deal. However, the seller should not worry because there is another buyer who is interested in their Timeshare and wants to meet them to finalise the deal.

But there is a catch. On November 17th 2008 BBC Watchdog broadcast an episode that established a very strong link between the resale scammers and the bogus Holiday Pack companies. The program featured a couple who had been persuaded by a telemarketer to pay nearly £1,000 in upfront fees to sell their Timeshare.

They were told a few weeks later that the prospective buyer was in fact a corporate client and they would have to fly to Spain for a meeting to seal the deal. Having already paid a substantial sum they had no choice but to buy some flights and make their way to Spain to meet the buyer.

But the person they met on arrival was not interested in buying their Timeshare. Instead he was a salesman for a dubious Holiday Pack and was only interested in trying to sell them his product for a further £4,500.

What started off as a financial lifeline for someone keen to sell their timeshare ended up being a disaster and the only winners were the resale scam company and the con people who work for them.

The Office of Fair Trading is currently seeking evidence of Timeshare resale scams to help the Spanish authorities in their enforcement actions and have published a set of guidelines to help protect consumers from these shady fraudsters. They are warning Timeshare owners to exercise caution if they are approached by a company claiming to be able to sell their Timeshare that:

• requests an upfront fee such as an administration fee, VAT, land registry charge or insurance cover
• offers an unrealistic purchase price – often higher than the original price
• says they have a confirmed buyer waiting or a “corporate buyer”
• asks you to go abroad to complete a sale

There are genuine companies out there who can help you sell your Timeshare but it is advisable to take advice first and check out the company that is making the offer. If they are not members of Resort Developers Organisation (formerly called Organisation for Timeshare in Europe) the best advice is to steer well clear.

For more information visit:
The Resort Development Organisation at www.rdo.org