New? Time Share Purchase Scam

[Timeshareowneregrets]

A guy claiming to be a representative of TravelGenio in CDMX cold-called me and offered $38,550.60 for my one week every year oceanfront at the Point at Poipu (DRI). Ridiculous right? Here is the deal, they have a Houston Attorney Vanesa Ivette Agosto llc who sent me a purchase agreement. TG will wire me the $38k and within 5 days I am to send the TG salesman an 8% commission. No upfront or deposit (yet) and my bank said that for a wire transfer to happen - the funds need to be at the originating bank to happen. Has anyone heard of this and how it all will fall apart?

 

[dioxide45]

Not new, but a scam nonetheless. That $38K check won't be real and weeks after you have deposited it and sent the 8% right away, the bank will come back and say it was fraudulent. You will then be out $3,040. Five days usually isn't enough time for a bank to truly verify a fraudulent check, especially if it is drawn on an overseas bank account.

Kind of a mix of the old Nigerian check scam and selling a timeshare. Any cold call is going to be a scam.

 

[Timeshareowneregrets]

Ye

Not new, but a scam nonetheless. That $38K check won't be real and weeks after you have deposited it and sent the 8% right away, the bank will come back and say it was fraudulent. You will then be out $3,040. Five days usually isn't enough time for a bank to truly verify a fraudulent check, especially if it is drawn on an overseas bank account.

Kind of a mix of the old Nigerian check scam and selling a timeshare. Any cold call is going to be a scam.

ah - I have seen those - but what is different here is they are claiming to "wire transfer" the funds. And my bank has told me that they won't credit my account until they have the funds - it must be some new variant to get around the fraudulent check scam.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

A guy claiming to be a representative of TravelGenio in CDMX cold-called me and offered $38,550.60 for my one week every year oceanfront at the Point at Poipu (DRI). Ridiculous right? Here is the deal, they have a Houston Attorney Vanesa Ivette Agosto llc who sent me a purchase agreement. TG will wire me the $38k and within 5 days I am to send the TG salesman an 8% commission. No upfront or deposit (yet) and my bank said that for a wire transfer to happen - the funds need to be at the originating bank to happen. Has anyone heard of this and how it all will fall apart?

Keep your hands in your pocket and hang up if he calls again. SCAM.


.

 

[RX8]

Also part of the scam is stealing the identity of real people. That attorney is real, at least there is someone by that name that passed the Texas Bar in 2016. However, there is nothing listed in Houston for an attorney by that name and, conveniently for the scammers, she has no contact phone number listed at the Bar member site so someone could verify by calling her.

 

[LannyPC]

...it must be some new variant to get around the fraudulent check scam.

It must be. Remember, these scammers are coming up with new things all the time since their old, worn out tricks are getting exposed.

They said they're charging an 8% commission. Most legitimate brokers will charge a minimum 10-15% or $1000 and that commission gets taken out of the proceeds of the sale. The seller does not receive the sale amount and then forward the commission to the broker.

Also, the fact that the person cold called you and said he could get you an amount for way more than what it is worth are clear indications of a scam.

 

[CPNY]

I remember years ago

Scam A#&!073 “I have a buyer in Europe who wants your specific unit and is willing to pay 40,000 because they can’t get what you own in Europe.”

Me: oh? Excellent sell it
SA: ok I need 500 upfront to market it
Me: how about I give you 1000 to sell it.
SA: why would you want to pay more?
Me: why would you want to market a unit you already have a buyer for? doesn’t seem like the best business practice. I wouldn’t have a buyer at my house to purchase my car THEN place an ad in the paper to sell it the next day”
SA: we need to have you pay first then we can go into contracting.
Me: I’ll make a deal with you, Give me 20,000 from the sale and keep the rest, since you already have a buyer for a timeshare that’s not listed for sale, you deserve at least half
SA: Click

I miss those phone calls. Now it’s you’ve been selected to receive a free vacation......... I usually keep them on the phone for an hour until they go nuts and hang up.

 

[LannyPC]

I miss those phone calls. Now it’s you’ve been selected to receive a free vacation......... I usually keep them on the phone for an hour until they go nuts and hang up.

I sometimes do too but not for an hour and I definitely do not miss those phone calls.