Owner Service calls that are likely scammers

[dougp26364]

So far today I’ve received two phone calls that show “Owner Services”. Both started out with, “This is not a sales call.” That generally indicates it’s a sales call. One was from Wichita, KS and the other Springfield, MO. They seem to be targeting Marriott owners as they asked about my Marriott timeshare.

I hung up on the first after he announced, this is not a sales call. The second I listened to briefly. She wanted to talk about “my timeshare.” I asked “Which one?”
She said Grand Chateau. At this point I asked what she wanted to know and she wanted to know if I still owned it.

I essentially told her if she didn’t know, then she wasn’t with Marriott owner services and I hung up.

I’m assuming these are timeshare exit scams posing as owner services. Based on the fact I received two calls from two different call centers within a couple of hours of each other, I’m going to assume they’re pretty aggressive. Both calls sounded as if they were boiler room calls with a LOT of background noise from other calls in progress.

I doubt anyone on TUG would fall for this scam, but thought I’d post it anyway since they’re posing as Owner Services on the caller ID.

 

[dioxide45]

Either timeshare exit companies or fake rental companies wanting you to pay them to list your weeks for rent. Either way, they are a scam and certainly not from Owner Service. THanks for the PSA. Can't reiterate enough about all the scams out there to take advantage of people.

 

[RX8]

Any caller who starts with a spoofed phone number is going to be up to no good.

 

[dougp26364]

Any caller who starts with a spoofed phone number is going to be up to no good.

I don’t think they spoofed these numbers. Both had the same caller ID. Spoofed numbers are generally robo call scams with no caller ID or unknown. This sounded more like an organization. Probably, legit in a loosely legal sense, but still a scam.

They get your name from a list they buy legally and target individuals, like Marriott owners. It’s a scam, but a more sophisticated scam.

 

[Foggy1]

So far today I’ve received two phone calls that show “Owner Services”. Both started out with, “This is not a sales call.” That generally indicates it’s a sales call. One was from Wichita, KS and the other Springfield, MO. They seem to be targeting Marriott owners as they asked about my Marriott timeshare.

I hung up on the first after he announced, this is not a sales call. The second I listened to briefly. She wanted to talk about “my timeshare.” I asked “Which one?”
She said Grand Chateau. At this point I asked what she wanted to know and she wanted to know if I still owned it.

I essentially told her if she didn’t know, then she wasn’t with Marriott owner services and I hung up.

I’m assuming these are timeshare exit scams posing as owner services. Based on the fact I received two calls from two different call centers within a couple of hours of each other, I’m going to assume they’re pretty aggressive. Both calls sounded as if they were boiler room calls with a LOT of background noise from other calls in progress.

I doubt anyone on TUG would fall for this scam, but thought I’d post it anyway since they’re posing as Owner Services on the caller ID.

Sounds like call I had last week. Hung up on the first call, 10 minutes later another call to which I also asked "which one?" A slight pause followed by what was probably a guess.
She said Wyndham. To which I replied, truthfully, "don't own and never have owned Wyndham. You have bad information. Goodbye."

 

[RX8]

I don’t think they spoofed these numbers. Both had the same caller ID. Spoofed numbers are generally robo call scams with no caller ID or unknown. This sounded more like an organization. Probably, legit in a loosely legal sense, but still a scam.

They get your name from a list they buy legally and target individuals, like Marriott owners. It’s a scam, but a more sophisticated scam.

Could be a single organization but I would doubt that they would have operations in MO and KS. Scammers can spoof numbers and make up a caller ID name to go along with that spoofed number.

 

[dioxide45]

Could be a single organization but I would doubt that they would have operations in MO and KS. Scammers can spoof numbers and make up a caller ID name to go along with that spoofed number.

Missouri is a hotbed for timeshare scam operations.

 

[RX8]

Missouri is a hotbed for timeshare scam operations.

Yes, very true. I just meant that I doubted that they would have operations in multiple states.

 

[dioxide45]

Yes, very true. I just meant that I doubted that they would have operations in multiple states.

I suspect it was two different entities?

 

[dougp26364]

Yes, very true. I just meant that I doubted that they would have operations in multiple states.

Back in the early 80’s, when I was young and dumb, work was hard to find. I answered an add and took a job. It turned out to be a boiler room operation. It was interesting to watch how they operated. Once my dad explained what was happening I never went back. Trust me, they can be well organized and operate in multiple states, appearing legitimate to the unsuspecting.

With all the timeshare exit companies out there, many with different names yet controlled by one group or individual, it’s not a long walk to see how they can operate call centers in several locations.

 

[DeniseM]

You shouldn't pick up these calls, because all you are doing is letting the scammers know they reached a potential mark. The very fact that you were willing to pick up the call tells them that you might pick up future calls and guarantees that you will get more calls. When you get a call from a number you don't know - let it go to voice mail and then listen to the message.

 

[Steve A]

Why do you answer calls from numbers you don’t recognize?

 

[dioxide45]

Why do you answer calls from numbers you don’t recognize?

Sometimes it is fun. I wish they would call me sometimes, it might make for a good video. Though I have Ooma with Nomorobo and everything blocked except those on our contact list. When someone legitimate calls, I add them to our contact list so they can get through in the future.

 

[Steve A]

Ok. We all have different ideas of fun.

 

[Foggy1]

You shouldn't pick up these calls, because all you are doing is letting the scammers know they reached a potential mark. The very fact that you were willing to pick up the call tells them that you might pick up future calls and guarantees that you will get more calls. When you get a call from a number you don't know - let it go to voice mail and then listen to the message.

What you say is true...provided your vision is such that you don't need a magnifying glass to read caller ID. When my SO is out, she might be calling and I need to answer.

My communication life on the computer would be a real issue if it wasn't for Ctrl +. But yes, not answering and using voice mail is our "go to " procedure.

 

[VacationForever]

We are vacationing this week at Newport Coast and our friends joined us. They had received a call to rent out their Marriott timeshare weeks at rack rate. I tried to tell them that these were scammers and they refused to believe. My husband was on their side and said I don't know everything. Unbelievable. Let them be scammed is what I am resigned to.

 

[DeniseM]

What you say is true...provided your vision is such that you don't need a magnifying glass to read caller ID. When my SO is out, she might be calling and I need to answer.

You have my sympathy - poor vision is no fun. Have you considered buying magnifying glasses to carry with your phone? I use them for small work like cross stitching and diamond painting .

 

[RX8]

Sometimes it is fun. I wish they would call me sometimes, it might make for a good video. Though I have Ooma with Nomorobo and everything blocked except those on our contact list. When someone legitimate calls, I add them to our contact list so they can get through in the future.

I have always wanted to do to these telemarketers/scammers as Tom Mabe did.

 

[elked12]

Omg. That is hilarious.

 

[davidvel]

You shouldn't pick up these calls, because all you are doing is letting the scammers know they reached a potential mark. The very fact that you were willing to pick up the call tells them that you might pick up future calls and guarantees that you will get more calls. When you get a call from a number you don't know - let it go to voice mail and then listen to the message.

Why do you answer calls from numbers you don’t recognize?

Because we have to. Many people, in many different lines of work, have varying reasons why they receive calls from "strangers", or at least people not in their phone book. Many calls can be an important lead, mission critical, or down right emergencies for first responders or front line workers. In many fields, customers call someone else if you don't answer.

So this idyllic fantasy world of "don't answer if you don't know them" may be great advice to old fogies, or those who only use their phones to talk to their friends and family, but it's not reality for many people.

 

[dougp26364]

You shouldn't pick up these calls, because all you are doing is letting the scammers know they reached a potential mark. The very fact that you were willing to pick up the call tells them that you might pick up future calls and guarantees that you will get more calls. When you get a call from a number you don't know - let it go to voice mail and then listen to the message.

This use to be true in the old days when humans worked from a list. Eliminating the dead numbers (don’t pick up) was more efficient. With the advent of robo callers, it doesn’t matter anymore. The scammer puts in a prefix and then xxx-0000 to xxx-9999. The auto dialer then calls every number in that pre-fix. The unsuspecting are asked to call back or press 1 to speak with a human. All you need is enough humans to answer the calls coming in. You can even put these marks on hold and they’ll sit there just waiting to be fleeced.

We have a call blocking app on our phones with over 4,000,000 numbers blocked in their data base. Each time one gets through, we report the number and it’s added to the data base. What’s sad is they’ve added at least 1 million numbers to the data base each year we’ve been members. What’s REALLY sad is that I STILL get through each day. Once a number is reported, it won’t get through again.

 

[dougp26364]

Why do you answer calls from numbers you don’t recognize?

1. Sometimes it is a call I need to receive. I do t like calling back and being put on hold
2. I want to verify it’s a telemarketer or robo caller before I report the number to our call blocking service.

 

[Steve A]

Ok. As an old fogie I don’t need call blocking. I just don’t answer. Folks can leave messages.