• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Scam Alert! Network Brokerage Corporation and CCW Holdings

PagoPago

newbie
Joined
Apr 11, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
1
Points
1
Resorts Owned
Mayan Palace / Riviera Maya
I knew these companies were probably scammers in offering to buy my Mayan Palace membership for 4 times what I paid for it. They have perfected their MO and look and act very professional. Probably easily fooling anyone that has no experience in the type of fraud they perpetrate. There are also many companies using the exact same approach. In the last 6 Months I have had at least 6 companies call me with same approach and process. Its like they all went to a seminar somewhere and were taught how best to defraud Time Share owners.

I searched the internet for both company names and only got results that were not related to their scam operations, except one link related to CCW Holdings took me to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) website were they have 25 pages of people complaining or asking about timeshare purchase scams. Many many names of Time Share purchase scammer company are discussed on the FTC web site forum. It makes very interesting and educational reading, unless your reading the post after you have been scammed and are trying to figure out what happened to you after the fact that is !. Look at it if you want to see more about how these scammers work their fraud with their new technique of "just let us send you an offer, nothing to sign and no money from you required" And then where that eventually leads to if you bite, for this new approach to steal your money from you.

Also there appears to currently be no information about these two companies named as fraudsters here on the TUG Forum. So that is why I am posting the story below so that members of TUG can at least easily find out about these two companies right here on TUG with a simple search request.

I could not find any corroborating information or complaints about them until I came across the following very recent post of April 2018 by a single reviewer on YELP who posted the following experience.


Review by:

Joseph S.
Santa Cruz, CA


This company is a scam and they are committing fraud. First I was contacted by Sarah Steiner at NBC telling me that they had buyers interested in buying my time share in MX for a very good price. Then I was sent a Purchase and Sales Agreement and provided with money from the buyer going into an escrow account at Citibanamex in MX operated by the title company CCW Holdings. At first they said the two companies are separate and now I learn they are the same company that is scamming me and committing fraud. They convinced me that money had to be wired to MX government for taxes to be paid on the transaction, then they show that the funds are put in my escrow account by the seller. Then after sending the first wire for $3,138 to cover the taxpayer ID requirement, then I am surprised to have to pay Jalisco sales tax of $3897.19. Once again the escrow agent/Title company CCW shows me a statement that the funds are in my account and paid by the buyer so I wired the additional money. Then I get another letter saying that there needs to be paid legal an recording Fees of $4352. Once again the escrow statement shows me the funds are in the CitiBanamex account under my name for this amount and is paid by seller so I wired those funds as well. Then another surprise, they send me a letter from the MX SAT tax office stating that my escrow account has been frozen by the MX government agency and the only way to unfreeze my account is by sending another $5261 to a MX lawyer (all payments have gone to this lawyer on my behalf). I stupidly believed this and sent that money as well thinking finally the deal will close. Only to now get another letter stating that they want me to wire another $8,745 to the same SAT office on behalf of CitiBanamex as collateral because they fear my account is involved in money laundering of fraud. Finally I realize this is a total scam. I have now done 4 wires totaling $16,648 into this supposed escrow account at Citibanamex that is all fraudulent and I am out the money. They use a very convincing set of documents making all this look legitimate and it is not. It's a complete scam. Please help and expose these criminals.
 
Last edited:

njohnston

newbie
Joined
Apr 12, 2018
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
I knew these companies were probably scammers in offering to buy my Mayan Palace membership for 4 times what I paid for it. They have perfected their MO and look and act very professional. Probably easily fooling anyone that has no experience in the type of fraud they perpetrate. There are also many companies using the exact same approach. In the last 6 Months I have had at least 6 companies call me with same approach and process. Its like they all went to a seminar somewhere and were taught how best to defraud Time Share owners.

I searched the internet for both company names and only got results that were not related to their scam operations, except one link related to CCW Holdings took me to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) website were they have 25 pages of people complaining or asking about timeshare purchase scams. Many many names of Time Share purchase scammer company are discussed on the FTC web site forum. It makes very interesting and educational reading, unless your reading the post after you have been scammed and are trying to figure out what happened to you after the fact that is !. Look at it if you want to see more about how these scammers work their fraud with their new technique of "just let us send you an offer, nothing to sign and no money from you required" And then where that eventually leads to if you bite, for this new approach to steal your money from you.

Also there appears to currently be no information about these two companies named as fraudsters here on the TUG Forum. So that is why I am posting the story below so that members of TUG can at least easily find out about these two companies right here on TUG with a simple search request.

I could not find any corroborating information or complaints about them until I came across the following very recent post of April 2018 by a single reviewer on YELP who posted the following experience.


Review by:

Joseph S.
Santa Cruz, CA


This company is a scam and they are committing fraud. First I was contacted by Sarah Steiner at NBC telling me that they had buyers interested in buying my time share in MX for a very good price. Then I was sent a Purchase and Sales Agreement and provided with money from the buyer going into an escrow account at Citibanamex in MX operated by the title company CCW Holdings. At first they said the two companies are separate and now I learn they are the same company that is scamming me and committing fraud. They convinced me that money had to be wired to MX government for taxes to be paid on the transaction, then they show that the funds are put in my escrow account by the seller. Then after sending the first wire for $3,138 to cover the taxpayer ID requirement, then I am surprised to have to pay Jalisco sales tax of $3897.19. Once again the escrow agent/Title company CCW shows me a statement that the funds are in my account and paid by the buyer so I wired the additional money. Then I get another letter saying that there needs to be paid legal an recording Fees of $4352. Once again the escrow statement shows me the funds are in the CitiBanamex account under my name for this amount and is paid by seller so I wired those funds as well. Then another surprise, they send me a letter from the MX SAT tax office stating that my escrow account has been frozen by the MX government agency and the only way to unfreeze my account is by sending another $5261 to a MX lawyer (all payments have gone to this lawyer on my behalf). I stupidly believed this and sent that money as well thinking finally the deal will close. Only to now get another letter stating that they want me to wire another $8,745 to the same SAT office on behalf of CitiBanamex as collateral because they fear my account is involved in money laundering of fraud. Finally I realize this is a total scam. I have now done 4 wires totaling $16,648 into this supposed escrow account at Citibanamex that is all fraudulent and I am out the money. They use a very convincing set of documents making all this look legitimate and it is not. It's a complete scam. Please help and expose these criminals.
 

njohnston

newbie
Joined
Apr 12, 2018
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
I too think I have been scammed by these companies. It all seemed legit and all documents looked like they were real. Anything we can to do to expose them? I had researched online and really didn't see any red flags till I also saw the post by Joseph s tonight.
 

PagoPago

newbie
Joined
Apr 11, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
1
Points
1
Resorts Owned
Mayan Palace / Riviera Maya
Be on the lookout for timeshare resale phonies

The FTC and state consumer protection agencies have shut down dishonest timeshare resellers for bilking timeshare owners out of millions of dollars.



https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2014/05/be-lookout-timeshare-resale-phonies?page=20

Network Brokerage Corporation is mentioned on this page (link above) of the FTC timeshare forum as "NBC." CCW Holdings is also mentioned once on another page. There are numerous other company names discussed and exposed on this FTC web site forum running over 25 pages currently.
 

PagoPago

newbie
Joined
Apr 11, 2018
Messages
5
Reaction score
1
Points
1
Resorts Owned
Mayan Palace / Riviera Maya
That is likely because these fraudsters change their names frequently.
Thanks. Yes that's what they do. That's why I'm suggesting that the TUG forum have a thread or database listing all known probable or questionable company names that are or are suspected of these latest type scams. Or even a forum tread dedicated to scam stories and reports. This is so that a member can search for a company name on TUG, and quickly find that the company name they have been approached by is a known, probable or possible fraudulent operation.

For instance, I could add the names of the 6 companies that have approached me in the last few months, and that I have yet to see any information or reports by victims on as of yet. But on the other hand just fully publicizing the way these scams work in detail here on the TUG forum and other sights may be the best way also to educate all members and visitors so they "know it when they see it", before they get sucked in.
 

TUGBrian

Administrator
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
22,093
Reaction score
7,677
Points
1,099
Location
Florida
unfortunately for that very reason, a database of names is obsolete within a very short time...even the hundreds of posts of this very nature in the "ratings of timeshare related businesses" is a testament to that.

not that we are making any attempt to dissuade anyone from reporting names/scams/etc as they see fit, more than one person has found TUG by typing in a name of a company they were checking out....but the sad truth is FAR more folks simply assume a company is on the up and up simply because they cant find any reference to it being a scam in the first place even if all the red flags exist!

it has always been our goal to educate owners to read the red flags and completely ignore the name of a company. Names mean nothing, and can be arbitrarily changed at any time. red flags are always the same when it comes to scammers.
 

DSK

TUG Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2013
Messages
3
Reaction score
2
Points
113
Location
California
I knew these companies were probably scammers in offering to buy my Mayan Palace membership for 4 times what I paid for it. They have perfected their MO and look and act very professional. Probably easily fooling anyone that has no experience in the type of fraud they perpetrate. There are also many companies using the exact same approach. In the last 6 Months I have had at least 6 companies call me with same approach and process. Its like they all went to a seminar somewhere and were taught how best to defraud Time Share owners.

I searched the internet for both company names and only got results that were not related to their scam operations, except one link related to CCW Holdings took me to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) website were they have 25 pages of people complaining or asking about timeshare purchase scams. Many many names of Time Share purchase scammer company are discussed on the FTC web site forum. It makes very interesting and educational reading, unless your reading the post after you have been scammed and are trying to figure out what happened to you after the fact that is !. Look at it if you want to see more about how these scammers work their fraud with their new technique of "just let us send you an offer, nothing to sign and no money from you required" And then where that eventually leads to if you bite, for this new approach to steal your money from you.

Also there appears to currently be no information about these two companies named as fraudsters here on the TUG Forum. So that is why I am posting the story below so that members of TUG can at least easily find out about these two companies right here on TUG with a simple search request.

I could not find any corroborating information or complaints about them until I came across the following very recent post of April 2018 by a single reviewer on YELP who posted the following experience.


Review by:

Joseph S.
Santa Cruz, CA


This company is a scam and they are committing fraud. First I was contacted by Sarah Steiner at NBC telling me that they had buyers interested in buying my time share in MX for a very good price. Then I was sent a Purchase and Sales Agreement and provided with money from the buyer going into an escrow account at Citibanamex in MX operated by the title company CCW Holdings. At first they said the two companies are separate and now I learn they are the same company that is scamming me and committing fraud. They convinced me that money had to be wired to MX government for taxes to be paid on the transaction, then they show that the funds are put in my escrow account by the seller. Then after sending the first wire for $3,138 to cover the taxpayer ID requirement, then I am surprised to have to pay Jalisco sales tax of $3897.19. Once again the escrow agent/Title company CCW shows me a statement that the funds are in my account and paid by the buyer so I wired the additional money. Then I get another letter saying that there needs to be paid legal an recording Fees of $4352. Once again the escrow statement shows me the funds are in the CitiBanamex account under my name for this amount and is paid by seller so I wired those funds as well. Then another surprise, they send me a letter from the MX SAT tax office stating that my escrow account has been frozen by the MX government agency and the only way to unfreeze my account is by sending another $5261 to a MX lawyer (all payments have gone to this lawyer on my behalf). I stupidly believed this and sent that money as well thinking finally the deal will close. Only to now get another letter stating that they want me to wire another $8,745 to the same SAT office on behalf of CitiBanamex as collateral because they fear my account is involved in money laundering of fraud. Finally I realize this is a total scam. I have now done 4 wires totaling $16,648 into this supposed escrow account at Citibanamex that is all fraudulent and I am out the money. They use a very convincing set of documents making all this look legitimate and it is not. It's a complete scam. Please help and expose these criminals.


I wish I had seen your posting on Network Brokerage earlier. Your experience is almost the same that I had with them. I started to do some deep investigation. My eyes finally opened when the salesman hesitated when I asked for his middle initial ( He had previously sent me a picture ID to "prove" that he was the same person that had a RE brokers license.) I then was able to confirm that their address in NYC was false. These are real scam pros.

Basic lesson: never give upfront money no matter how great sounding (well rehearsed) the story is.
 

LannyPC

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2010
Messages
4,777
Reaction score
2,406
Points
448
Location
British Columbia
Basic lesson: never give upfront money no matter how great sounding (well rehearsed) the story is.

Yes, that has been emphasized here on TUG for years. Unfortunately, despite its valiant efforts, TUG can't reach every TS owner with that message.
 

TUGBrian

Administrator
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
22,093
Reaction score
7,677
Points
1,099
Location
Florida
further reinforcing that folks should flat out ignore the names of companies (be it on a list, rated by the BBB, mentioned here or not...or whatever).

a company asking you to pay a large upfront fee should be the biggest red flag their is, we cannot count the number of folks who regret not following this simple rule :(

very sorry you found us a bit too late, but perhaps this article might give you some relief or allow you to vent some frustration!

http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/timeshare_scam_retaliation.html
 

DSK

TUG Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2013
Messages
3
Reaction score
2
Points
113
Location
California
Since scammers/fraudsters change their names and corporate identities, we know that they often rob valid identities of RE agents and brokers and corporations. I had the manager of CCW holdings give his CPA license license which I validated, but of course, he was just robbing it. I finally got one such "broker", to send me his picture ID, but I now realize that of course a fake ID is probably easy for a criminal to get. There is no need to "meet in Person" or check out IDs, verify licenses etc if you follow the simple rule mentioned. No upfront money. The key reason for this is that the upfront money, besides being a waste/loss, is that it is their hook into you to make make you believe it is "what you have invested", so just a little money for the next part of the sale process.
 

Jan M.

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
4,486
Reaction score
5,844
Points
548
Location
Tamarac, FL
Resorts Owned
Wyndham Presidential Reserve at Panama City Beach
Club Wyndham Access
Grandview Las Vegas and Discovery Beach Resort - Both in RCI Points
Woodstone and Summit at Massanutten - Both in RCI weeks used as Wyndham PICs
We own three different timeshares and each one of them sends out newsletters, annual budgets, voting proxies and in the mailings and emails there usually is some kind of warning or information about timeshare resale company scams. When you type in timeshare resales on your computer you get more things come up about the scams than you do anything else. If you are searching on the internet then you can surely see what the resale prices are. When I look at the eBay listings and see similar timeshares being offered for $1-$1000 and then there are one or two for $15,000-$25,000, I ask myself who would ever pay that much? Nobody, I would think. But it would allow a scammer to be able to say they are making an effort to sell some poor fool's timeshare and keep taking more and more of their money. There have been stories on TV, in the news magazines and in the newspapers about timeshare resale company scams. How are there still so many people getting ripped off by these con artist/thieves? Sorry, I guess that is a stupid question. People will allow themselves to be convinced when they think they will make money on something.
 

RX8

TUG Member
Joined
May 5, 2011
Messages
4,107
Reaction score
4,454
Points
449
Resorts Owned
HGVC and DVC
further reinforcing that folks should flat out ignore the names of companies (be it on a list, rated by the BBB, mentioned here or not...or whatever).

a company asking you to pay a large upfront fee should be the biggest red flag their is, we cannot count the number of folks who regret not following this simple rule :(

very sorry you found us a bit too late, but perhaps this article might give you some relief or allow you to vent some frustration!

http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/timeshare_scam_retaliation.html

A little late but I wanted to add one more reason to ignore the name and look at the red flags. I have seen multiple occasions when the scammer paid a nominal fee to the state to fraudulently reopen someone else’s dormant corporation. Then they proudly point out “their” corporation. The scammers will also refer victims to their BBB file, which they likely requested to be reopened, as it reflects in business since the original incorporation date.
 

TUGBrian

Administrator
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
22,093
Reaction score
7,677
Points
1,099
Location
Florida
eh, sadly most searches for timeshare resales come up with upfront fee scammers than info about scams.
 
Top