Cold Call from 1st Professional Realty

Has anyone been called with a proposal to buy their Krystal membership for a huge dollar figure by 1st Professional Realty Group out of Atlanta, Georgia? I checked the BBB and they have been in business for 12+ years and have a A+ rating, they're not members of the BBB. The numbers are high for a resale, too high really, they say that the Krystal is in deep financial trouble and that 1st Pro is looking to get a majority share so that they can take over the Krystal in Cancun. That would be a good thing in my book.

How they got my phone numbers is a good question, their membership info on me was shaky at best. I see others have been contacted by different outfits for west coast timeshares, This is the 2nd offer on my Krystal membership in Cancun. This offer is not asking for upfront money, they want 12% for the sales commission after the sale. It's a steep commission, I would break even if I went through with the deal. It stinks of a scam in waiting, where's the catch and screwing coming from with these guys?

Any ideas? Anyone else been contacted? My contact is Kevin Gonzales

TacoTerry

TacoTerry said:

Has anyone been called with a proposal to buy their Krystal membership for a huge dollar figure by 1st Professional Realty Group out of Atlanta, Georgia? I checked the BBB and they have been in business for 12+ years and have a A+ rating, they're not members of the BBB. The numbers are high for a resale, too high really, they say that the Krystal is in deep financial trouble and that 1st Pro is looking to get a majority share so that they can take over the Krystal in Cancun. That would be a good thing in my book.

How they got my phone numbers is a good question, their membership info on me was shaky at best. I see others have been contacted by different outfits for west coast timeshares, This is the 2nd offer on my Krystal membership in Cancun. This offer is not asking for upfront money, they want 12% for the sales commission after the sale. It's a steep commission, I would break even if I went through with the deal. It stinks of a scam in waiting, where's the catch and screwing coming from with these guys?

Any ideas? Anyone else been contacted? My contact is Kevin Gonzales

TacoTerry

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Sounds variation on the old "We're going to take over units at a resort" scam. Read about it here:

Any experience with Sierra Rentals and Resales?? - Timeshare Users ...

It is a scam but they went to a lot work to disguise their scam. I will fill in details later.

OK, thanks Steve and RX8. I was thinking about taking it a little further, just to see where the hook gets set and I get pulled into the web of deception. Maybe a more telling move would to have them come on the TUG and explain the whole deal. Yeah, that might be my next move.

Scam

Here is how you know 1st Professional Realty Group is a scam:

Any unsolicited cold call and stating that they want to buy your timeshare for an outrageous price is always going to be a scam. They throw smoke and mirrors to disguise them for what they are which are thieves. Here is what I suspect they did:

• Searched for a existing corporation that was inactive (1st Professional Realty Group out of Atlanta - was incorporated in 2002 and dissolved in 2007)
• In November 2013 they fraudulently filled out a form and paid $250 to the state of Georgia to reinstate the corporation. It was processed December 4, 2013. They used the same name (Rueben Clemons) who is the original principal of the corporation but the signatures don't match.
• Set up their "direct" line of (404) 963-8447 which is an Atlanta pre-fix but is actually an Internet phone number.
• Setup an address of 1075 Peachtree St NE Suite 3650 which is actually a virtual office.
• Created their website on December 25,2013 using this bogus information.
• Contacted the BBB and requested that they open a BBB file which they did February 2014. They convinced the BBB that they began operations in 2002 and had proof of the corporation start date. You will notice their "start" date on the BBB. That is the reason for the A+ BBB rating (this won't last of course). The scammers will likely refer to "their" BBB rating often on the scam calls.
• Began making cold calls, likely from Mexico.

About their website. They claim on their website that the had $330 million in sales in 2011. Quite surprising since their website didn't exist and they don't have any timeshares for sale or rent on their website. Their website pages are also nothing but static pictures - they don't plan on updating it at all. They will ride it out until their scam is out and will just close the website and start all over.

When I googled their website nothing on them came up. I had to enter their website directly to view it. Not surprising since they are so new. Hopefully, anyone Googling them NOW will see this TUG thread.

RX8, you rock!! Thanks for the update and investigative research. Really well done and so quickly too. I snicker most times at these high offers from cold callers, this one was head scratcher. I felt it was a scam, I just was trying to find the hook and screw. No need to look any further.

I will invite them on to this thread to try to explain their offer, my guess is that my email will be the last I hear from them. Again, thanks for all your work.

TacoTerry

I did invite My friendly scammer to join us all here on the Tug, I guess he declined. I contacted our local news station (KOMO4) to see if maybe they would like to do a little story on this pack of rats. Haven't heard back from them as of yet. I hope they want to take to take a swing at these rats, that would be Soooo cool!

SCAMS, If it fails the first time, try again.

Got contacted early Feb by ADG Realty Services Ltd, 1401 Peachtree, Atlanta, Ga. for an offer to rent from me 10 weeks of my Exotics vacation membership for over $38.5K . Sounded to good to be true, you can get like 200 weeks of presidential units for that price. Did my research and obviously a similar pattern as the one RX8 mentioned appeared. Company of this name existed years ago and was dissolved in 2012. I was even told by ADG Realty rep that they only changed president in 2012. I did not reply within the deadline they had given me. It did not matter they still wanted to conclude the deal.

Today, I received a carbon copy offer from 1st Professional Realty Group and thanks to RX8 investigative research I already know the story of this scam.

I would like so much to take them for a ride and make them waste so much time. But I value my time to more than that.

After 1st professional Realty and ADG Realty Services scam businesses, we may receive other offers from peoples like that that want to help us.

Just today, we got an email from the Customer Services Manager at Buganvilias about fraudulent companies. I copied it below.


Dear Members:

WE WANT TO REAFFIRM OUR PREVIOUS MESSAGES.

We have been notified again that fraudulent companies are contacting timeshare members of many resorts; with the intention of protecting your best interests and prevent you from getting into trouble with these companies that are offering rental or resale services, we strongly recommend you not to deal with any of them that might contact you by mail, telephone or e-mails. In some cases, they are even using names of sales personnel to make clients believe they are trustable, or even mentioning that Buganvilias referred them to you.

Also, we want to reconfirm that NOBODY can request the payment of maintenance fees, but Buganvilias Resort.

We want to alert you as these companies will tell you that they will not ask for commissions in advance, but little by little, when they gain your trust after telephone calls or e-mails, they will start asking for money, arguing it is for tax payments, they might even send false documentation, or other payments. After you have deposited them money they will disappear and few months later they will call you from another fraudulent company.

Please, be very careful. BE CAREFUL!!!!

Now these companies are contacting members pretending to be “lawyers” and offering their help if you have been involved in a fraud or if you are not satisfied with your membership they offer support in the process of cancellation and reimbursement. Of course for a fee: that will be money thrown in the garbage as you will not receive any help.

And RECENTLY….. their new tactic, is pretending to be one of the organizations that represent several timeshares as: AMDETUR (Mexican Resort Development Association), ARDA (American Resort Development Association), CRDA (Canadian Resort Development Association) or any other Association related with the Timeshare Industry.

ANY COMPANY THAT CONTACTS YOU OFFERING RENTAL OR RESALE IS A 99.9% GUARANTEE THAT IS A FRAUD.

Es totalmente un fraude

RX8 said:

Here is how you know 1st Professional Realty Group is a scam:

Any unsolicited cold call and stating that they want to buy your timeshare for an outrageous price is always going to be a scam. They throw smoke and mirrors to disguise them for what they are which are thieves. Here is what I suspect they did:

• Searched for a existing corporation that was inactive (1st Professional Realty Group out of Atlanta - was incorporated in 2002 and dissolved in 2007)
• In November 2013 they fraudulently filled out a form and paid $250 to the state of Georgia to reinstate the corporation. It was processed December 4, 2013. They used the same name (Rueben Clemons) who is the original principal of the corporation but the signatures don't match.
• Set up their "direct" line of (404) 963-8447 which is an Atlanta pre-fix but is actually an Internet phone number.
• Setup an address of 1075 Peachtree St NE Suite 3650 which is actually a virtual office.
• Created their website on December 25,2013 using this bogus information.
• Contacted the BBB and requested that they open a BBB file which they did February 2014. They convinced the BBB that they began operations in 2002 and had proof of the corporation start date. You will notice their "start" date on the BBB. That is the reason for the A+ BBB rating (this won't last of course). The scammers will likely refer to "their" BBB rating often on the scam calls.
• Began making cold calls, likely from Mexico.

About their website. They claim on their website that the had $330 million in sales in 2011. Quite surprising since their website didn't exist and they don't have any timeshares for sale or rent on their website. Their website pages are also nothing but static pictures - they don't plan on updating it at all. They will ride it out until their scam is out and will just close the website and start all over.

When I googled their website nothing on them came up. I had to enter their website directly to view it. Not surprising since they are so new. Hopefully, anyone Googling them NOW will see this TUG thread.

Esto es totalmente un Fraude cuando te llaman companies para vender tu timeshare. !st Professional Realty Group Inc. es una compania fraudulenta. Ignorenla y no pierdan el tiempo ni su dinero. He Dicho. Punto y Fuera.]

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