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NJ Atty General going after upfront fee resale scammer "Williams Andrews Burns / WAB LLC"

TUGBrian

TUGBrian

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and as always, our advice stands. never ever pay a large upfront fee to sell/rent/exit/cancel/whatever your timeshare:

www.rlsmedia.com

Acting AG Files Lawsuit Against Company Offering Timeshare Rental Services that Allegedly Defrauded Consumers

Acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck and the Division of Consumer Affairs today announced the filing of a lawsuit in Essex County Superior Court against a New Jersey company and its owner for allegedly defrauding consumers who paid thousands of dollars each for timeshare rental and resale...
www.rlsmedia.com www.rlsmedia.com

The five-count Complaint alleges defendants collected payments in advance from consumers, in amounts ranging from $594 to $2,899, in exchange for the company’s promise to rent or resell their timeshares and provide thousands of dollars in guaranteed income or provide a full refund.

However, the Division has been unable to identify a single consumer who received any rental or sale income, and most clients seeking refunds never received their money back.
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...in one instance, the company collected $2,865 from a 94-year-old consumer to rent a timeshare the consumer no longer owned. :devilish:
 
Interesting article but the title of this thread is misleading. It is not a TS exit company. It's an upfront fee resale scam company. The two operate differently.
 
merged
 
LannyPC said:
Interesting article but the title of this thread is misleading. It is not a TS exit company. It's an upfront fee resale scam company. The two operate differently.
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They certainly have used the “resale” lie in their cold calls but their website lists only two services. These services are ironic because they push the fear of timeshare scammers while being a scammer themselves.

“FRAUD RECOVERY - We help consumers get your money back from Timeshare Resale Scammers with no judgement or embarrassment.”

“FRAUD MONITORING - Similar to popular credit card monitoring system, WAB developed a proprietary way to make sure that your property remains safe.“

They set out to scam from the beginning. Their “about us” talks about how the entity was created in 1995 yet their LLC and website were created in 2018. They also have fake reviews.

While these scammers have been ordered to pay $10M we all know that all the money they brought in has been spent already. I doubt any victim gets a dime in restitution. The sad part is, that while this is an obvious scam to steal money, there is no mention of jail time.
 
RX8 said:
[snip]

While these scammers have been ordered to pay $10M we all know that all the money they brought in has been spent already. I doubt any victim gets a dime in restitution. The sad part is, that while this is an obvious scam to steal money, there is no mention of jail time.
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This was a civil action, not a criminal action. Imprisonment is never the result of a civil action. For one thing, the burden of proof is higher in criminal cases (beyond a reasonable doubt). For civil cases, it is preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not). You can't send someone to prison when the burden of proof is "more likely than not."
 
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Seems like a very shallow victory. Williams Andrews Burns LLC (WAB), and its principal, William O’Hanlon are almost certainly going to declare bankruptcy and depart New Jersey. After that what stops either from setting up shop in either of the other 49 states?
 
nice, looks like prison time is in the cards for these folks!

www.justice.gov

Leader of Telemarketing Scheme Targeting Timeshare Owners Over the Age of 55, Wife, Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Admit Fraudulent Conduct from 2016 through 2023

The leader of a fraudulent telemarketing scheme and his wife, who served as controller/bookkeeper of the fraudulent companies, recently each pled guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their participation in a telemarketing scheme to defraud timeshare owners over the age of 55.
www.justice.gov www.justice.gov

As part of their guilty pleas, O’Hanlon and Stefanowski also admitted that they committed fraud against timeshare owners from in or around November 2020 through in or around August 2023, through a different but overlapping set of entities, including Ryan James & Daniels Corporation, Williams & Burns, Inc., and Resort BNB, Inc. (collectively referred to as “RJD”). This was a violation of their bail conditions because they continued to commit fraud after they were arrested on the WAB Indictment in April 2023, contrary to the conditions of their pretrial release not to commit another crime and not to have access to the personal identifying information (PII) of others.

O’Hanlon and Stefanowski both agreed to make restitution for any proven losses to victims of WAB and victims of RJD.

Each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud is punishable by a maximum of 30 years in prison, including an enhancement of 10 years in prison for committing such fraud via telemarketing that targeted persons over the age of 55 or victimized 10 or more persons over the age of 55. The sentences on each count may run consecutively. Each offense also carries a potential fine of the greater of $250,000,or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and the defendants may be sentenced to a term of supervised release after any term of imprisonment imposed.
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TUGBrian said:
nice, looks like prison time is in the cards for these folks!

www.justice.gov

Leader of Telemarketing Scheme Targeting Timeshare Owners Over the Age of 55, Wife, Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Admit Fraudulent Conduct from 2016 through 2023

The leader of a fraudulent telemarketing scheme and his wife, who served as controller/bookkeeper of the fraudulent companies, recently each pled guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their participation in a telemarketing scheme to defraud timeshare owners over the age of 55.
www.justice.gov www.justice.gov
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I love these updates that you do!

I had previously looked into this scam extensively. So glad that it has finally caught up with them.

New Jersey originally fined the owner and banned them from doing business in NJ. Apparently, NJ never stopped investigating resulting in these additional charges.
 
RX8 said:
I love these updates that you do!

I had previously looked into this scam extensively. So glad that it has finally caught up with them.

New Jersey originally fined the owner and banned them from doing business in NJ. Apparently, NJ never stopped investigating resulting in these criminal charges.
Click to expand...
I enjoy trying to reach out to all the individuals involved in the investigation and thank them personally (as well as offer any encouragement I can for them to pursue the endless amount of additional players in the industry engaging in the same activity).
 
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Below is the link for this same scammer who started Ryan, James & Daniels in Florida after being banned in New Jersey. I am sure there are TUGgers who remember the self proclaimed Alzheimer’s Gary, the former dentist, who tried to convince us all that Ryan, James & Daniels was legit. We all knew he was a shill and was probably Mr. William O’Hanlon himself all along. This thread is still my most favorite thread of all time.

tugbbs.com

Ryan James & Daniels.... scam! (fake story/customer/testimonials - warning!)

Hello everybody, it's Gary once again. I am making this new post about a situation I was unfortunately found in, having been defrauded of thousands of dollars by a company that was successfully shut down by the government later. I was contacted by Ryan James & Daniels and was told that with a...
tugbbs.com tugbbs.com
 
glider2 said:
Seems like a very shallow victory. Williams Andrews Burns LLC (WAB), and its principal, William O’Hanlon are almost certainly going to declare bankruptcy and depart New Jersey. After that what stops either from setting up shop in either of the other 49 states?
Click to expand...

Ask and ye shall receive:

TUGBrian said:
nice, looks like prison time is in the cards for these folks!

www.justice.gov

Leader of Telemarketing Scheme Targeting Timeshare Owners Over the Age of 55, Wife, Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Admit Fraudulent Conduct from 2016 through 2023

The leader of a fraudulent telemarketing scheme and his wife, who served as controller/bookkeeper of the fraudulent companies, recently each pled guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their participation in a telemarketing scheme to defraud timeshare owners over the age of 55.
www.justice.gov www.justice.gov
Click to expand...
 
I conviction out of thousands is better than nothing. It shows that it can be done.
 
another guilty plea!

www.justice.gov

Former New Jersey Resident Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud for Telemarketing Scheme Targeting Timeshare Owners Over the Age of 55

A former New Jersey resident recently pled guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his participation in a telemarketing scheme to defraud timeshare owners over the age of 55 from 2016 to 2020.
www.justice.gov www.justice.gov

James Toner, a/k/a “Jason Turner,” a/k/a “James Turner,” a/k/a “Jason Thomas,” 43, of Lake Mary, Florida pleaded guilty today, before the Hon. Karen M. Williams, U.S. District Judge, Camden, to Counts One and Two of a 13-count Indictment, charging conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing that targeted or victimized timeshare owners over the age of 55 (Count One) and wire fraud in connection with telemarketing that targeted or victimized timeshare owners over the age of 55 (Count Two). Toner’s sentencing is scheduled for December 2, 2025.
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I’m getting near-daily cell phone calls from timeshare exit scammers (not sure what I did, maybe just the number of deeds I own), and I have the type of job where I unfortunately can’t just ignore phone calls from unknown numbers. Glad to see someone is going after these menaces.
 
I was getting them for a few years after I disposed of my last one. I would probably still be getting them except that I have extreme spam call blockers on both phone services. Still get postcards from time to time.
 
100% get more postcards than calls now... though I do believe the post cards are run by independent "scheduling" outfits to just get people to the meetings and not the timeshare exit scammers themselves.

at least when I call that seems to be the case though I suppose it is possible to just lie to potential customers and that would avoid them having to answer questions over the phone vs get people to the presentation!
 
You can thank the data mining companies for searching deed databases in various counties and finding you are still an owner of a timeshare, adding you to a list, and selling that list to a bunch of scam companies. I know all about it because my BIL worked for one of these companies for several years. He knew how these scammers were getting your information.
 
Did you visit with your BIL while he was in that horrible business?
 
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