Now I know I'm Stupid!!

[TUGBrian]

This article should help identify scammers, regardless of the name or the pitch!

http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/timeshare_company_legitimate.html

 

[Biscottian]

Contact from Mexican Government

We were scammed in the very same way. These people are not at addresses given; they are very likely in Mexico. A couple of weeks ago, we were contacted by an Armando Garcia who said he is with the Secretaria de Hacienda Credito y Publico (like our IRS). Said that the government has been rounding up and now holding in custory a bunch of the fraudsters. Asked for documentation=names, copies of wire transfers, etc. Sent them. He told us we might get 75-80% of our losses back. They we got some emailed into telling us that we would get back a sum which was the total of the amount we lost plus about $3,000. Where did that come from? He told us that the resort at which we own gave our names and others to the gangsters and that other resorts do the same and they gave SHCP $ to keep us from going to the media and dissing them. BUT, in order to get any money back,, we had to send 10% of the total for court costs. (Is a light beginning to flicker? Bells starting to ring?) We said NO; asked if we could pay by credit card-NO. Asked for documentation via snail mail. NO. Said that's too slow; needed to act quickly (in Mexico?) to keep the bad guys in custody. We kept on saying NO. He called again and again and finally we hung up on him. Then he called and said that we were refusing to cooperate with the Mexican government and could expect to receive a subpoena in a couple of weeks and wondered aloud whether we were deliberately providing money to the frandsters who would have to be released and continue to work their evil ways upon others. (This after telling me that he was notifying hundreds of people like us---any of them pay the court costs? Why is our 10% so vital? We thought this was totally bizarre and wonder if any other folks out there have had similar contacts. Unfortunately, we have been having lots of computer problems but I finally got an email off to the official who is listed as the Director of SHCP which apparently is a legitimate wing of Mexican government. This person MAY be entirely legitimate--at one point he told me "You don't know how things are done down here" and in the voice message, he was obviously pretty angry but we were pretty scared.
Also, I saw some references to contacting Profeco--we did and they pretty much told us that they can't do anything. Does anyone have some names?
Also, I got the impression (just an impression) that these scams are very prevalent in the Jalisco state.

 

[Biscottian]

See my post

Can anyone tell me who I can get a hold of from the government of Mexicbviously someone in Mexico has my money and I'm sure they aren't planning on paying taxes on it.It would be a good feeling if I could get these people with tax evasion.

Entered at 7:43 p.m. EDT; it may be of interest to you.

 

[pacodemountainside]

You have been scammed by professionals. Give it up and move on with your life. Don't waste time and money on lost causes.

 

[Larry M]

NC is tough on frauds

Thanks for you condolences. I definitely got sucked in.I wish that I lived closer to one of their addresses and I would have tried to confront them first to see if these are also fake. Is there anyone on this sight that lives in either Chicago or Charlotte that could call them up and asked to visit them in there office. They have addresses and phone numbers on their sites.I went to their sites first and read through both sites and they seemed legit but obvious there are not.

I'm about 2-1/2 hours from Charlotte and cannot visit, but I suggest you call this number:
(919) 716-6000 or visit these pages:
http://www.ncdoj.gov/Consumer.aspx
http://www.ncdoj.gov/getdoc/fdbee1c7-c2a9-4f67-91b2-bb50beea1c0a/2-2-12-File-a-Complaint.aspx

Attorney General Roy Cooper has always made this operation a consumer-friendly one. He's about to run for governor so it will be even more friendly.

Larry

 

[Larry M]

Digging deeper on the Charlotte address

Thanks for you condolences. I definitely got sucked in.I wish that I lived closer to one of their addresses and I would have tried to confront them first to see if these are also fake. Is there anyone on this sight that lives in either Chicago or Charlotte that could call them up and asked to visit them in there office. They have addresses and phone numbers on their sites.I went to their sites first and read through both sites and they seemed legit but obvious there are not.

Aeico Services, the escrow outfit lists their address as 112 S. Tryon. (http://www.aeicoservices.com/content/contact.html) That's the heart of downtown, the high-rent, skyscraper district. It's unbelievable that they would list this address with no floor or suite. Time to do some digging.

There is no Aeico Services incorporated in NC. Start here:
http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/CSearch.aspx and insert Aeico, check "Starting with".

How about this web page and email hosting? Go to http://www.nwtools.com and insert aeicoservices.com . Leave the selection at Express and hit Go!

IP address: 200.58.111.141
Host name: aeicoservices.com
Alias: aeicoservices.com
200.58.111.141 is from Argentina(AR) in region South and Central America​

This means the web page is being served from Argentina, not Charlotte, or even the US.

Looking further at the page, here are more goodies. The website registrant is:

Registrant conatct:
Name: Andrew
Company: Andrew
Email: stone.andrew35@yahoo.com
Address: 265 Periferico
MX - cancun ( zip: )
Phone : 52 - 99896​

The same data is given for the Admin contact, Billing contact, and Tech contact. Based on the location, I would have to guess that Aeico Services is a shadow outfit set up by the Mexican scammer (who might actually be named Andrew Stone.) The email address has to work--at least during the initial setup process but there's no guarantee that anyone looks at it or responds now.

Another tidbit from this page:

Domain name: aeicoservices.com
Creation Date: 2013-08-20
Expiration Date: 2014-08-20​

He just opened this page two months ago. Fly-by-night? The expiration date is not meaningful--the default is to pay a year at a time.

But wait! There's more! This traceroute shows the path to get to this website, located at 200.58.111.141.

TraceRoute from Network-Tools.com to 200.58.111.141 [aeicoservices.com]
Hop (ms) (ms) (ms) IP Address Host name
1 1 0 0 8.9.232.73 xe-5-3-0.edge3.dallas1.level3.net
2 0 0 0 4.69.145.210 ae-4-90.edge10.dallas1.level3.net
3 2 2 2 64.215.195.33 ae14-503-70g.ar7.dal2.gblx.net
4 222 222 223 67.16.164.165 xe0-0-0-10g.ar1.ros1.ros.gblx.net
5 169 168 168 201.234.144.150 201-234-144-150.static.impsat.net.ar
6 223 222 222 200.58.111.141 floyd.dattaweb.com​

The website is hosted/served by an outfit called dattaweb.com. They, in turn, are served by impsat.net.ar. an internet backbone in Argentina. You can contact them (ask me how) and get his web hosting cancelled, but it won't get your money back.

His domain names are served by a couple of outfits:

DNS servers
ns22.dattatec.com [200.58.122.66]
ns21.dattatec.com [200.58.116.42]
ns4.hostmar.com [200.58.112.101]
ns3.hostmar.com [200.58.112.193]
ns1.traxhost.com [200.58.122.190]​

You could probably get those cancelled, but again it would just annoy him, and you would have to get all three companies to go along.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Just for something different, let's see what the Mecklenburg County tax records say about 112 S. Tryon in downtown Charlotte. Start here:
http://meckcama.co.mecklenburg.nc.us/relookup/ ,
change Search By: to Address and insert 112. S, and Tryon in the three fields on the next line. Sure enough, there are 44 (!) businesses paying real estate taxes in this building, and that doesn't even count the renters! Based on the way the addresses are annotated, it appears that there are at least 19 stories in this building. (It turns out that these are office condominiums; hence so many owners. See below.)

Okay, how about looking for mail forwarding from that address? Well, I naively (not really, I knew what I was doing) typed this query into Google:

mail box 112 s tryon charlotte​

and lo-and-behold:
several hits including this one:

http://www.yellowbook.com/yellow-pa...e,+nc+28216-2859&searchmethod=popularsearches
Pitney Bowes
112 S Tryon St
Charlotte, NC 28284-2191​

This company provides private mailbox service. You probably cannot get them to disclose anything about the boxholder without a court order.

This real estate site lists several condominiums for sale at 112 S. Tryon:
http://www.cityfeet.com/cont/nc/stanley-income-property#pgNum=3
which explains why there are so many owners.

Sorry I cannot travel to Charlotte for you, but I am convinced it would be a waste of time.

Larry
(internet forensics my specialty)

 

[Brerrabbit]

A scenario I'd like to see.....

I have been a great fan of "The Godfather" - book and movie. I like to think what would happen, and I think it will happen sooner or later, that some of these scammers manage to scam somebody with connections that result in the scammers winding up "sleeping with the fishes," as it was described it in the book.

 

[icydog]

Aeico Services, the escrow outfit lists their address as 112 S. Tryon. (http://www.aeicoservices.com/content/contact.html) That's the heart of downtown, the high-rent, skyscraper district. It's unbelievable that they would list this address with no floor or suite. Time to do some digging.

There is no Aeico Services incorporated in NC. Start here:
http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/CSearch.aspx and insert Aeico, check "Starting with".

How about this web page and email hosting? Go to http://www.nwtools.com and insert aeicoservices.com . Leave the selection at Express and hit Go!

IP address: 200.58.111.141
Host name: aeicoservices.com
Alias: aeicoservices.com
200.58.111.141 is from Argentina(AR) in region South and Central America​

This means the web page is being served from Argentina, not Charlotte, or even the US.

Looking further at the page, here are more goodies. The website registrant is:

Registrant conatct:
Name: Andrew
Company: Andrew
Email: stone.andrew35@yahoo.com
Address: 265 Periferico
MX - cancun ( zip: )
Phone : 52 - 99896​

The same data is given for the Admin contact, Billing contact, and Tech contact. Based on the location, I would have to guess that Aeico Services is a shadow outfit set up by the Mexican scammer (who might actually be named Andrew Stone.) The email address has to work--at least during the initial setup process but there's no guarantee that anyone looks at it or responds now.

Another tidbit from this page:

Domain name: aeicoservices.com
Creation Date: 2013-08-20
Expiration Date: 2014-08-20​

He just opened this page two months ago. Fly-by-night? The expiration date is not meaningful--the default is to pay a year at a time.

But wait! There's more! This traceroute shows the path to get to this website, located at 200.58.111.141.

TraceRoute from Network-Tools.com to 200.58.111.141 [aeicoservices.com]
Hop (ms) (ms) (ms) IP Address Host name
1 1 0 0 8.9.232.73 xe-5-3-0.edge3.dallas1.level3.net
2 0 0 0 4.69.145.210 ae-4-90.edge10.dallas1.level3.net
3 2 2 2 64.215.195.33 ae14-503-70g.ar7.dal2.gblx.net
4 222 222 223 67.16.164.165 xe0-0-0-10g.ar1.ros1.ros.gblx.net
5 169 168 168 201.234.144.150 201-234-144-150.static.impsat.net.ar
6 223 222 222 200.58.111.141 floyd.dattaweb.com​

The website is hosted/served by an outfit called dattaweb.com. They, in turn, are served by impsat.net.ar. an internet backbone in Argentina. You can contact them (ask me how) and get his web hosting cancelled, but it won't get your money back.

His domain names are served by a couple of outfits:

DNS servers
ns22.dattatec.com [200.58.122.66]
ns21.dattatec.com [200.58.116.42]
ns4.hostmar.com [200.58.112.101]
ns3.hostmar.com [200.58.112.193]
ns1.traxhost.com [200.58.122.190]​

You could probably get those cancelled, but again it would just annoy him, and you would have to get all three companies to go along.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Just for something different, let's see what the Mecklenburg County tax records say about 112 S. Tryon in downtown Charlotte. Start here:
http://meckcama.co.mecklenburg.nc.us/relookup/ ,
change Search By: to Address and insert 112. S, and Tryon in the three fields on the next line. Sure enough, there are 44 (!) businesses paying real estate taxes in this building, and that doesn't even count the renters! Based on the way the addresses are annotated, it appears that there are at least 19 stories in this building. (It turns out that these are office condominiums; hence so many owners. See below.)

Okay, how about looking for mail forwarding from that address? Well, I naively (not really, I knew what I was doing) typed this query into Google:

mail box 112 s tryon charlotte​

and lo-and-behold:
several hits including this one:

http://www.yellowbook.com/yellow-pa...e,+nc+28216-2859&searchmethod=popularsearches
Pitney Bowes
112 S Tryon St
Charlotte, NC 28284-2191​

This company provides private mailbox service. You probably cannot get them to disclose anything about the boxholder without a court order.

This real estate site lists several condominiums for sale at 112 S. Tryon:
http://www.cityfeet.com/cont/nc/stanley-income-property#pgNum=3
which explains why there are so many owners.

Sorry I cannot travel to Charlotte for you, but I am convinced it would be a waste of time.

Larry
(internet forensics my specialty)

What an incredible job you did. It read like a suspense novel. It's amazing you gleaned that much out of so little info. Good job forensics guy.

 

[csxjohn]

What an incredible job you did. It read like a suspense novel. It's amazing you gleaned that much out of so little info. Good job forensics guy.

+1, please stick abound LarryM, so many people believe that because someone says they are somewhere they really are when we know they aren't even in this country.

Keep up the good work.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

+1, please stick abound LarryM, so many people believe that because someone says they are somewhere they really are when we know they aren't even in this country..

Ain't that the truth. After getting married I realized that 50% of the world's population not only wasn't in the same country as me, we were in totally different universes.

 

[amycurl]

I would definitely contact Roy Cooper's office and copy/paste the internet forensics that Larry did for you (amazing job, btw!) With somewhat legitimate companies --Big Telecom and Big Cable--we've gotten *amazing* customer service superfast by just *mentioning* that we'd be contacting Roy Cooper as the next step in our grievance process.

Now, these guys are scammers, so that won't mean anything to them, but Roy's office will be pissed that they're using a shell building in Charlotte as their cover. That might be enough for him to go after them.

 

[dfspcc]

SHCP Timeshare Scams in Mexico

Just spent a week talking with alleged representatives from SHCP (the mexican treasury department) trying to scam me. They are VERY good. They claim that the Mexican government settled out of court a sort of class action with Grupo Sunset (from whom we bought our timeshare in Playa del Carmen) and that they are distributing $10 million dollars to victims of Sunset's lies. Now, Sunset lied about virtually everything they told us, other than the price and when we could use the unit, which was all we were interested in. But, I decided to play this out and see if there was any truth to what they said. They sent me a court document, officially sealed and all, forms from SHCP (whom it seems is actually impossible to contact by phone to verify), asked legitimate questions as if they really were refunding money, obtained the prices we paid and were simply checking out to see if we had paid in full, etc. However, the final tip off that it was a scam came when they asked me to wire them $2800 in court costs and then they would wire my refund to me. NEVER wire in money to someone who is supposed to pay you! It is as smooth a con as you can find - no fast talkers, very knowledgable people, no salesman, just simple bureaucrats doing their job. And when you call down to them, the people answering seem to be bureacrats, not salespeople. So, becareful of the SHCP scam. Among the one hundred others being trained at us. Odd as it may seem, despite the lies, we love our timeshare, use it twice a year and got what we wanted, albeit couched in a series of lies from the developer. Go figure. D

 

[Rent_Share]

It's a simple fact if they have the funds to send you, they can figure out a way to deduct anything you might owe.

Offer double if they will deduct, it's not in the script . . .

 

[Larry M]

Thanks <blush>

+1, please stick abound LarryM, so many people believe that because someone says they are somewhere they really are when we know they aren't even in this country.

Keep up the good work.

icydog, csxjohn, T_R_Oglodyte, amycurl, kaelyn:

Thanks. It actually took more time to type the results than to gather them.

I don't visit TUG or TUGBBS much any more, now that I've gotten a Wyndham resort to take back my timeshare in Arkansas. (See http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187107 .) The only forums I read are the ones Brian highlights in the weekly newsletter.

But I don't mind doing this--if you see something you would like me to analyze, just drop me a private message pointing to the post in question.

LarryM
Raleigh, NC

 

[frenchieinme]

Thanks for you condolences. I definitely got sucked in.I wish that I lived closer to one of their addresses and I would have tried to confront them first to see if these are also fake. Is there anyone on this sight that lives in either Chicago or Charlotte that could call them up and asked to visit them in there office. They have addresses and phone numbers on their sites.I went to their sites first and read through both sites and they seemed legit but obvious there are not.

You would not have been able to confront them as they use boiler rooms to do business from. The police have a hard time locating them as well. Just lick your wounds and thank God you are still her able to talk about it and someday even laugh :hysterical: (or cry ) about it over a glass of beer with an acquaintance.

frenchieinme

 

[mtb2]

PamMo

Thanks for that article. I did read it and liked the karma bit. I also liked the advice from others about sites for complaints. Thanks. Right now I have not succumbed to anything major - I hope this site has prepared me to spot the wolves in sheep's clothing.

 

[loser1]

I sent emails to the Mexican consulate in Ontario,Illinois and North Carolina explaining what I've been through. I received two emails.

From: Carrera Aguayo, Felipe (fcarrera@sre.gob.mx)

Thank you for sharing with us your experience with companies that you suspect are practicing scam activities to travelers interested in visiting Mexico. We strongly encourage you to request the opinion of a law professional qualified to review the circumstances and merits of the case to proceed legally against them. Likewise, as far as your questions regarding Mexican Tax Regulations, we recommend you to seek the opinion from a Certified Public Accountant or Tax Law Specialist in Mexico. In the case you need a power of attorney in order to hire a professional to represent you before an authority in Mexico, the Consulate of Mexico in Raleigh can provide you that service.
From: Fabio Corominas de la Pera (fcorominas@promotur.com.mx)
Sent: October-30-13 6:31:32 PM

Cc: Rafael Muñoz Fraga (rmfraga@promotur.com.mx); cgmtoronto@consulmex.com (cgmtoronto@consulmex.com); conchicago@sre.gob.mx (conchicago@sre.gob.mx); conraleigh@sre.gob.mx (conraleigh@sre.gob.mx); dgpinternacional@sre.gob.mx (dgpinternacional@sre.gob.mx); Jose Maria Barquin Del Puert (jbarquin@promotur.com.mx)

My name is Fabio Corominas - Head of the Litigation Department for the Mexico Tourism Board. In this e-mail you will also find copied, among others, our General Counsel Mr. Rafael Muñoz Fraga.
We have become aware of your current situation regarding the purchase of a timeshare in Nuevo Vallarta as stated in your e-mail dated October 15th, 2013. In this line of thought, we would be glad to assist/advice you in the course of actions to be performed pursuant to recover your money or to conclude with the aforementioned transaction. Please do consider that we all are Government Officials; therefore, we are not allowed to act on your behalf or anyone´s regarding any civil or commercial matter. Nonetheless, we could provide you with a pretty objective perspective and, if necessary, to recommend you an Attorney at Law. In order to do so, we would need to go over certain details since after reading your e-mail there are some facts we need to get straight.
In order to avoid distracting anyone else from their many occupations, please feel free to contact me directly by copying only to Mr. Muñoz Fraga.
Looking forward to hear from you.
Kindest regards,

Fabio Corominas

What do you people think???

 

[Larry M]

Hello and I think I have been scammed I wish I had found this site earlier.I own a timeshare in Nuevo Vallarta. I got a phone call from a company from Chicago www.exclusivebeachfrontenterprise.com.

Well, I typed a long message but it took so long to create it that the BBS logged me out and the data was lost.

Here's a summary. I decided to do the same kind of forensics on Exclusive Beach Front Enterprise as I did on Aeico Services.

Their web pages are served by the same hosting company.

Their domain name service is provided by the same three companies.

The domain registrant is the same, Andrew Stone in Cancun--probably his real name and email address.

This is pretty convincing evidence that these two shadow companies were set up by the same person.

I looked for a mail forwarding company at 24 E. Washington St., Suite 204 in Chicago on Google, yellowpages.com, and the Cook County tax office but didn't find one. That doesn't mean there isn't one--just that I didn't spend enough time.

Sorry for the brief note--I had lots of instructive forensics in the lost note.

Larry M

 

[csxjohn]

Well, I typed a long message but it took so long to create it that the BBS logged me out and the data was lost.

I hate when that happens.

It's my turn to help you Larry. It has been suggested here and I now follow it, if I anticipate a long reply I use WordPad to type out the message then copy and paste it TUG. No problems since I started doing that.

 

[Rent_Share]

I hate when that happens.

It's my turn to help you Larry. It has been suggested here and I now follow it, if I anticipate a long reply I use WordPad to type out the message then copy and paste it TUG. No problems since I started doing that.

Word Pad ? - Why not Word, where you at least get the benefit of spell check and formatting commands that have advance from the days of WordStar

 

[Free2Roam]

Wordpad is included... No extra cost. Not everyone has Word.

 

[csxjohn]

Yep, wordpad is what my wife put on the computer for this computer dim wit to use. I write it out, transfer it to the forums and do any formatting I need. I have ieSpell installed so I can check the spelling before I transfer it.

The main thing is that I learned to not try to write a post or PM while on this site because I've lost them before.

 

[TUGBrian]

didnt know it was that big of an issue for folks timing out on forum replies...ive set the timeout to 30minutes now vs the default 15.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

didnt know it was that big of an issue for folks timing out on forum replies...ive set the timeout to 30minutes now vs the default 15.

Good, Brian. I've not experienced the problem - my sessions don't every seem to time out (is that because I have cookies set so the site always recognizes who I am?). But for timeouts, 15 minutes is definitely not enough time.

 

[Passepartout]

I can echo what Steve said. I can't say a time-out has ever cost me a post (not that one less would matter much), but occasionally I think I hit some combination of (ctrl+unknown) that wipes the slate clean and I have to start over. I wish I knew what I did so it wouldn't happen again or another combination that would restore what I wrote.

Ahhh well, wishful thinking.

Jim