New offer to buy Timeshare, likely a scam...have you seen this?

[satori#3]

I got a call to buy our 2 weeks at a resort in Mexico and usually I laugh and tell them we have been burned once before (losing 3,000). However, for some odd reason I was curious and asked what they would pay for the timeshare. He asked how many weeks and then offered me 45,000. I was flabbergasted and said that most of these TS can't be given away, so why would they want to pay 45,000 for ours. He said that they were a travel agency and intended to rent the unit at the rate of 700.00/night X 2 weeks/year X the 30 years it is likely running. That would give them around 300,000 total over 30 years and they would give us, up front, 45,000 or 15%. So, that was a new one on me and I had a good laugh. However, is it a new scam, or have the rest of you seen it. First, I doubt that they can break up a week even if they tried. Thanks for any input you can give us. We aren't looking to sell, however were curious....

 

[RX8]

I got a call to buy our 2 weeks at a resort in Mexico and usually I laugh and tell them we have been burned once before (losing 3,000). However, for some odd reason I was curious and asked what they would pay for the timeshare. He asked how many weeks and then offered me 45,000. I was flabbergasted and said that most of these TS can't be given away, so why would they want to pay 45,000 for ours. He said that they were a travel agency and intended to rent the unit at the rate of 700.00/night X 2 weeks/year X the 30 years it is likely running. That would give them around 300,000 total over 30 years and they would give us, up front, 45,000 or 15%. So, that was a new one on me and I had a good laugh. However, is it a new scam, or have the rest of you seen it. First, I doubt that they can break up a week even if they tried. Thanks for any input you can give us. We aren't looking to sell, however were curious....

It is not a new scam. In fact, this scam has been around for years and years because people keep falling for it.

It goes like this. A cold call, almost always for a Mexican timeshare. Offer you big bucks. Claim no money due from you. Get your contact info. Send the contract for you to sign. Before they send you your money they now claim a fee is due (tax, government, bank fee, whatever they make up) to be reimbursed to you at closing. You wire the money. They say a new fee is due. You wire again. This repeats itself until no more wires are sent then they stop responding. They will create a new business name and start all over again.

It looks like they danced around your question as to why they are paying $45K for something they can get for free.

 

[satori#3]

Great.....I gave them a non-working email address and also they used my maiden name to talk with me, so clearly they don't have the right contact info and won't get it from me. However, it was quite a story.....30 years of selling the rooms at 700/night....what a story!! Thanks for you info. I hadn't heard this scam.

 

[chapjim]

Heckuva deal! What could go wrong?