Being Contacted to Buy your Timeshare..... Seems Fishy!

[Hellermi]

I have been consistently been contacted with offers to buy my timeshare. They first started to come from Mexican entities, then they were brokers based in the US. Often they state that they are representing companies that want to purchase them for renting out. The offers I get is over double what I paid for my timeshare. What is the scam?

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

The scam is that as the deal progresses, they will ask you to pay some money upfront - for escrow, for title transfer, for taxes that the Mexican government supposedly needs to collect. The requirements are limited only by the imagination. They will assure that everything will be reimbursed to you when the deal is complete and escrow closes.

But the deal will never close, the escrow company is a fraud, and all of the money you have paid upfront will be gone. There are numerous examples of this in message threads. There's a thread on Sierra Rentals and Resales, if you want to see an elaborate example. Here's the link to the thread. https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index...ience-with-sierra-rentals-and-resales.112034/. See any similarities?

I figure the Sierra Rentals and Resales operation involved two to three people running the scam. It appears as if they set up the operation and got into in the Sales Operations at several resorts, and operated as a referral entity for people who wanted to rent units. Probably did a small amount of business, mostly collecting some upfront fees But the big thing was to establish some "presence" and generate contact information on owners.

Then they opened up the main scam, where they contacted owners with the offers to buy entire units, and played that out for a year. For about two to three years of work, they probably pulled in well over $1 million in those fees.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

I have been consistently been contacted with offers to buy my timeshare. They first started to come from Mexican entities, then they were brokers based in the US. Often they state that they are representing companies that want to purchase them for renting out. The offers I get is over double what I paid for my timeshare. What is the scam?

In case you haven't figured it out yet; it is a scam.

No one will ever pay you double!





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[TUGBrian]

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

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

In case you haven't figured it out yet; it is a scam.

No one will ever pay you double!

Not only is it double what the OP paid initially, it's probably 100 (or more) times what resale units fetch. Any reputable entity that might be purchasing units to run as a rental business isn't going to pay 100 times market value.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

I have been consistently been contacted with offers to buy my timeshare. They first started to come from Mexican entities, then they were brokers based in the US. .......

FYI - Once one scammer has your contact information / phone etc. - THEY ALL DO . You will keep getting these contacts .
also - the USA based ones may not be - it is pretty easy to spoof an area code & phone number