U.S. and Florida officials announced last year that they have filed almost 200 civil and criminal cases for timeshare resale frauds over the past two years and the cases still mount up in 2014, as scams in the timeshare business have increased, with scammer now more likely to have violent and drug-related backgrounds.
In 2013 and continuing into 2014 Florida sued more than nine timeshare resale companies based in the USA state for fraudulent activity, and has requested temporary restraining orders against six of them, according to Miami U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who proclaimed the actions at a press conference in Miami.
In the UK consumers have been living with this problem for years and we have ended up with organisations which are totally ineffective and toothless when t comes to purported self regulation. How on earth can the regulator regulate when they are paid and supported by the very people they are meant to police?
“We cannot allow our elderly and vulnerable real property owners to continue to be the target of fraud schemes,” Ferrer said in a statement. These victims “looked to sell their units to help make ends meet or pay other bills. Instead, they were defrauded out of more than $14 million in total.”
Some 83 civil cases have been filed in 28 states and more than 184 people are facing criminal charges in federal and state court in the USA as the thieving and dishonesty continues and breeds. In the timeshare resale cases, “boiler room” operations (which are common place Europe) were set up to call timeshare owners to sell the properties for a “deposit” of hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars which mirrors the positions in the European resorts. And we call ourselves progressive and collaborate.
‘Victimizing People’
“The majority of the people who have been perpetrating these ungodly actions are from the sunny orange state of Florida and are habitually victimizing people from outside state now.
Timeshares permits owners the right to use a property for a set period of time each year, typically a week. Fractional ownership products usually offer extended stays at a resorts property and tend to include more services and amenities, according to the American Resort Development Association ARDA, a Washington-based trade group like to the European based RDO.
Timeshare fraud “involves telemarketing companies that market their advertising services to timeshare owners interested in selling or renting their timeshare interests,” Florida officials said. “Many of these companies charge exorbitant fees and perform few services.” The issue is where they get the contact numbers and details from as they are only known to the resorts themselves. It the same model as Europe.
These are the result of Frankenstein ethics of some timeshare companies which have been educated in the chequered and sometime warped timeshare industry culture.
Legislation
The Florida Legislature in 2012 passed the Timeshare Resale Accountability Act requiring timeshare resellers to provide consumers with specific disclosures before providing services and also bars timeshare resellers from taking advance fees from consumers, according to the statement.
This happened in Europe yet some re-sellers believe they have a way of continually raising charges dressed in another format. These charges might be a way to get round the legislations but the minds behind enterprises clear seek to avoid what government and legislative committees thought were reasonable propositions.
If the firms did want to rebut the instigation of consideration restrictions they had every opportunity to put the bones of their position to the authorities at the consultation stage. We believe that they did and were indeed represented however when the regulator dismissed they submission they carried on regardless, charging and billing Are we are expected to respect them, their advice and their ethics.
The year following the law’s enactment, the number of timeshare resale fraud complaints received by Bondi’s office fell by more than 57% which of course leaves a significant number, of fraudsters actively perpetrating civil crimes.
“Timeshare resorts and resale scammers have cheated tens of thousands of timeshare owners out of tens of millions by convincing them to pay for a false promise, an enriched fake obis and a woeful and very real nightmare”
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk