MyResortNetwork Warning About Scammer That Has Been Banned from Site (STEVEWADDEL10)

[Egret1986]

I responded to an email from someone looking to rent my timeshare today. Great! Then I opened an email from MyResortNetwork. I regularly post listings to this site and have been doing so for years. I'm a real cheerleader for this site since I have had much success with my listings over the years. I didn't hesitate to respond to the email of interest. I am impressed with MRN's ability to monitor and notify users once it's been determined someone is using their site for fraudulent means.

Below is the email I received. I wish I had opened MRN's email prior to responding to this scammer.

"Hello from the owners of www.MyResortNetwork.com,

You were Just contacted by stevewaddell10@yahoo.com

from our website about your timeshare. This person is trying to scam our customers and has sent you a message like this:

Hello I am interested in your condo Please how do we proceed? Steve

Do not fall for the tricks that we warn about in every contact you get. We are sorry for this but have now banned him from our website. Please do not respond to this person."











Thanks,

Mike Barton

Mike@MyResortNetwork.com
www.MyResortNetwork.com

 

[Sapper]

I've emailed the folks who run myresortnetwork.com a couple of times. They have always responded promptly, and made corrections where needed. Nice to see them proactively reaching out to help protect their users.

 

[md8287]

I received basically the same message from RedWeek about the same user in their system.

 

[JudyS]

I responded to an email from someone looking to rent my timeshare today. Great! Then I opened an email from MyResortNetwork. I regularly post listings to this site and have been doing so for years. I'm a real cheerleader for this site since I have had much success with my listings over the years. I didn't hesitate to respond to the email of interest. I am impressed with MRN's ability to monitor and notify users once it's been determined someone is using their site for fraudulent means.

Below is the email I received. I wish I had opened MRN's email prior to responding to this scammer...

Thanks for warning us! Do you think you will lose money because of this scammer, or is it more an issue that he/she now has your contact info? I hope things work out.

I tried listing on MyResortNetwork a number of years ago, but got very little response. That was quite a while ago -- maybe a decade ago. How long have you been listing there, and has response to your ads been getting better?

Has anyone else had good luck with MyResortNetwork?

 

[Egret1986]

Thanks for warning us! Do you think you will lose money because of this scammer, or is it more an issue that he/she now has your contact info? I hope things work out.

I tried listing on MyResortNetwork a number of years ago, but got very little response. That was quite a while ago -- maybe a decade ago. How long have you been listing there, and has response to your ads been getting better?

Has anyone else had good luck with MyResortNetwork?

No, I lost no money. Since responding back to this person, I have heard no more. Yeah, my biggest concern is the contact info; however, that's my normal procedure when someone contacts me regarding my rentals.

My completed rentals come from repeat customers, MyResortNetwork, and Craigslist mostly. RedWeek never really works for me. I think high-end timeshare owners do better with RedWeek. I have over 100 closed listings from the years since 2006. You can post as early as you want for rentals and the ad will run until the end of the rental period ($19.95). I don't think that price has gone up since I've been using them.

On TUG, I hear more recommendations for RedWeek. I decided no more RedWeek after last year's listings netted no rentals or sales. A couple of year's ago, I started documenting where my successfully completed listings came from. Repeat customers, MRN and Craigslist have been the winners. Craigslist can be a pain, but it works for rentals in the two areas where I own (Virginia Beach and North Carolina's Outer Banks).

 

[JudyS]

No, I lost no money. Since responding back to this person, I have heard no more. Yeah, my biggest concern is the contact info; however, that's my normal procedure when someone contacts me regarding my rentals.

My completed rentals come from repeat customers, MyResortNetwork, and Craigslist mostly. RedWeek never really works for me. I think high-end timeshare owners do better with RedWeek. I have over 100 closed listings from the years since 2006. You can post as early as you want for rentals and the ad will run until the end of the rental period ($19.95). I don't think that price has gone up since I've been using them.

On TUG, I hear more recommendations for RedWeek. I decided no more RedWeek after last year's listings netted no rentals or sales. A couple of year's ago, I started documenting where my successfully completed listings came from. Repeat customers, MRN and Craigslist have been the winners. Craigslist can be a pain, but it works for rentals in the two areas where I own (Virginia Beach and North Carolina's Outer Banks).

Egret1986, thank you very much for your detailed response. It is very helpful. About the contact information, sending my full contact information is generally my procedure, too, except with some replies from Craigslist. If I get a generic reply to a Craigslist ad, such as "Is this still available?" with nothing else, I suspect it's a scammer. (My Craiglist ads ask people to mention the name of the resort.) So, I just say "Yes, it's available. Do you have any questions about my rental?"

Despite giving out contact information to hundreds of prospective renters over the years, I have had no serious problems. In the past, I would pretty regularly get the scam where the person said they wanted to send me a money order and have me forward money to someone else. Of course, I never fell for that one. Contact information for timeshare owners is often readily available online, anyway. Many jurisdictions allow people to look up deeds online, and the timeshare owner's name and address will be right on the deed. The owner's phone number and email won't be on the deed, but those often aren't very important for identity theft. (Unless the scammer has physical possession of one's phone, or takes the time to break into one's email account.)

About Redweek, I think they advertise in some places that have a lot of timeshares. I know I have seen their billboards in Orlando in the past. My guess is that Redweek never advertised in your markets, so people who rent your timeshares aren't very aware of Redweek.