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Call from realty company wanting to buy Royal Resort week

bondavebo

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Marriott Frenchmen's Cove
I got a call out of the blue, actually several calls, wanting to buy my every other year at the Royal Haciendas resort. The amount offered is more than what I paid for it. The company is called Blue Marlin Realty in Chicago, IL but this sure smells like a scam. At this point they are not asking for any money from me and I've made it clear I won't put any money into this. I think the catch in how they make their money is that you need to pay the commission out of the proceeds that are put in escrow. Has anyone heard of this? Supposedly the company they are buying for is a foreign company called Qingjian Realty Group Ptc
 

DeniseM

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WKORV, WKV, 2-SDO, 4-Kauai Beach Villas, Island Park Village (Yellowstone), Hyatt High Sierra, Dolphin's Cove (Anaheim)
This is a common scam - you don't want to have any more contact with them, because that will identify you as an "easy mark," and you will get calls from lots more scammers. Block their calls and emails and cut them off.
 

TheTimeTraveler

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I got a call out of the blue, actually several calls, wanting to buy my every other year at the Royal Haciendas resort. The amount offered is more than what I paid for it. The company is called Blue Marlin Realty in Chicago, IL but this sure smells like a scam. At this point they are not asking for any money from me and I've made it clear I won't put any money into this. I think the catch in how they make their money is that you need to pay the commission out of the proceeds that are put in escrow. Has anyone heard of this? Supposedly the company they are buying for is a foreign company called Qingjian Realty Group Ptc



RUN away as fast as you can!

SCAM



.
 

vacationtime1

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
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WKORV-OF (Maui)
WKV x2 (Scottsdale)
I got a call out of the blue, actually several calls, wanting to buy my every other year at the Royal Haciendas resort. The amount offered is more than what I paid for it. The company is called Blue Marlin Realty in Chicago, IL but this sure smells like a scam. At this point they are not asking for any money from me and I've made it clear I won't put any money into this. I think the catch in how they make their money is that you need to pay the commission out of the proceeds that are put in escrow. Has anyone heard of this? Supposedly the company they are buying for is a foreign company called Qingjian Realty Group Ptc

The "catch" is that they will ask you to put money into escrow (promising it will be refunded from the escrow upon closing). A tax, an appraisal, etc. Of course, once you put money into that escrow, it is lost forever.

SCAM. RUN.
 

silentg

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Fitzpatrick's Castle Holiday Homes,
Enchanted Isle.
Don’t do it!
 

bondavebo

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This is a common scam - you don't want to have any more contact with them, because that will identify you as an "easy mark," and you will get calls from lots more scammers. Block their calls and emails and cut them off.
 

bondavebo

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This is a common scam - you don't want to have any more contact with them, because that will identify you as an "easy mark," and you will get calls from lots more scammers. Block their calls and emails and cut them off.
As a follow-up I verified that this was a scam. I'm impressed (or worried) about the amount of work this group put into this scam. They have a web page with quotes and listings. They listed several properties on the Blue Marlin web page (bluemarlininc.com) and I found the the agent actually representing one of these properties and contacted him. Of course he had never heard of Blue Marlin. It's difficult to research Blue Marlin Realty as there are some valid realtors with this name although not in Chicago. You can check into their real estate license numbers for their brokers and it shows them as valid yet you can't find anyone on linkedin or facebook that matches the names of these brokers. Real estate brokers would use these tools. So beware if you get a call from Blue Marlin!
[/QUOTE]
 

TheTimeTraveler

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You can't pluck money from trees, so if it sounds too good to be true then it likely is. I am glad you did your research in advance!

By the way, if they call you again then tell them to call Royal Haciendas directly so they can buy all they want at a better price....... You'll hear a quick "click".


.
 

LannyPC

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So beware if you get a call from Blue Marlin!
[/QUOTE]

Actually, beware if you get a call from anyone out of the blue promising to fetch you big bucks for your timeshare. It doesn't matter what the name of the company is. There are dozens of companies like this out there. Some also operate under a few different names. The keys are an unsolicited phone call coupled with an offer too good to be true for your TS.
 

The Colorado Kid

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Westin Riverfront
Christie Lodge
Apollo Park
Grand Timber Lodge
Indian Palms
Massanutten
Park Regency
Valdoro Mountain Lodge
Marriott Surfwatch
Creepy thing is when they called me they had all the specifics correct on what I owned which initially led me to think they were legit.
 

chapjim

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
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Fairfax County, Virginia
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Wyndham VIPF & PresRes, HVC/DRI (Gold), Quarter House (4), Resort on Cocoa Beach (2), HGVC Tuscany Village, HGVC South Beach-McAlpin, HGVC Parc Soleil
Creepy thing is when they called me they had all the specifics correct on what I owned which initially led me to think they were legit.

They're buying contact info from an insider.
 

LannyPC

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Depending on the county where the timeshare is located, the county may allow anyone to see who owns which real estate (aka "Public Record").

While that is a possibility, it is more likely that these scammers are getting owners' personal information from employees (or former disgruntled employees) at the resorts or from employees at the exchange companies (eg. RCI, II, etc.). I don't think the county records supply the owners' phone numbers whereas the resorts and exchange companies do have those numbers.

Also, it begs the question about owners in Mexico. Do Mexican county records yield owners' information such as what is owned, the owners' names and phone numbers? Besides, most Mexican "ownerships" are not deeded property. They're right-to-use or just vacation memberships. I can't see those being in county records.
 
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