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Bearclaw Travel & Best Investment Services

Oddfellow

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I have been approached by a Victoria Russell at Bearclaw Travel Services out of Aurora, CO about selling our points based timeshare at Pacifica Resorts Ixtapa. I have usually been able to determine a scam pretty quickly but have not yet on this one. They claim to have a buyer who is a Mexican National who has the purchase price in Escrow in Mexico. They want to use Best Investment Services out of North Dakota for the transfer. All fees are to come out of the escrow funds including the sellers 5%. Has anyone ever heard of done business with either of these companies? It’s smells fishy but I don’t want to walk away if it’s real.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

DeniseM

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WKORV, WKV, 2-SDO, 4-Kauai Beach Villas, Island Park Village (Yellowstone), Hyatt High Sierra, Dolphin's Cove (Anaheim)
It's a scam - once they have you hooked, they will come up with a phony fee that you have to pay, steal the money, and disappear.

There is no Legit escrow account - this is part of the scam. When they send you the wire instructions for the fees you have to pay, they will actually have you send the money out of the country, where it will be gone forever.

You should immediately stop communicating with the scammers, and don't give them any personal info. If you continue to engage the scammers, you will be tagged as an "easy mark," and this will result in lots more scam offers in the future.

Block them on your cell phone. Don't answer their land line calls. Set up their emails to go directly to your spam folder.

DON'T DO IT!
 

dayooper

TUG Review Crew
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HGVC: The Flamingo, The Boulevard
It's a scam - once they have you hooked, they will come up with a phony fee that you have to pay, steal the money, and disappear.

There is no Legit escrow account - this is part of the scam. When they send you the wire instructions for the fees you have to pay, they will actually have you send the money out of the country, where it will be gone forever.

You should immediately stop communicating with the scammers, and don't give them any personal info. If you continue to engage the scammers, you will be tagged as an "easy mark," and this will result in lots more scam offers in the future.

Block them on your cell phone. Don't answer their land line calls. Set up their emails to go directly to your spam folder.

DON'T DO IT!

Can’t get any better advice than this.
 

LannyPC

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It’s smells fishy but I don’t want to walk away if it’s real.

That's exactly how these scammers get people. The victims hang on to the faint hope that their worthless timeshares will someway, somehow fetch tens of thousands of dollars from a sale.

BTW, do you honestly think that this is a legitimate offer?
 

Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
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The first clue was that THEY CALLED YOU! No one will EVER call you to give you money. EVER!
 

RX8

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More on the scam company called Bearclaw Travel Services, LTD.
  • They claim to be in business since 1987. In fact, the corporate entity was indeed established in 1987. However, this entity appears to have gone out of business in 2015 (and likely well before that).
  • In July 2018 someone filed a document electronically, my guess fraudulently, and paid just $100 to cure the delinquency of the entity. At the same time, the name changed from Douglas Bowen to Matthew Krause, Jr. and the address was changed to 3190 S. Vaughn Way in Aurora, CO.
  • Not surprisingly, the website was created August 2018, just a few weeks after the electronic filing to activate the entity.
  • 3190 S Vaughn Way is a office building that also has virtual offices. Having no suite # is a giveaway that they don't reside there. Probably don't even have a virtual office.
  • Their phone number, while an Aurora prefix, is a portable phone meaning they could be calling from anywhere.
  • Their new website is "under maintenance"
  • They have four "reviews". All of them recent, all t hem with one review to their name, and all likely fake posted by the scammers themselves.
  • They have created multiple social media accounts in the last month or so trying to get the name out there.
  • One new LinkedIn account is a fake account for Douglas Bowen, the original true owner of Bearclaw. The LinkedIn account laughingly lists his occupation as "Driver/Operator" for Bearclaw Travel Services for the last 33 years. The real Douglas Bowen is 74 years old. Why would he even need a new LinkedIn account? LOL.
On a blogspot created in September they have a bio of their "esteemed leader" Matthew Krause, Jr (likely a fake name). It is written as if they don't know a thing about him and are making things up as they go. Some grammar mistakes too, which is common for scammers. The quote is below, the link to the blogspot is below that.

"Matthew Krause JR, is the current CEO of Bearclaw Travel and is close to completing 15 years of hard work and admirable responsibility. No one is more concerned about the company than Matthew. It is said that Mr. Krause´s family origins come from Czech republic and his ancestors moved to united states during, or maybe after Second World War, 1945. This are just conjectures about his surname but in any case he is a respected and admired leader in Bearclaw Travel. "

https://bearclawtravelservices.blogspot.com/
 
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