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On August 11th we reported on a rogue company, imitating lawyers, Frias Toribio, whom supposedly help recuperate lost monies from Timeshare scams. It has now been brought to our attention that there is another company, also operating out of a fictitious Madrid address; Calle General Castaños, 28004.

This address was investigated and it was found that there was no business at this address. The company give you a mobile number as a contact number. Always beware of companies that do not have a landline, although we are in the ‘Digital Age’ all companies still have a landline, whether it feeds their internet or solely just a contact telephone number for their fixed offices. A mobile should always be registered as a secondary number. This is the mobile number that Pana are using as their contact at the moment, 604289515, but this is likely to change after bad publicity, so beware.

Unlike Frias Toribio, whom act as reclaim lawyers, Pana Travel claim that they can sell your Timeshare unit, and that they already have a buyer for your Timeshare. They are extremely professional sounding when they speak to you over the telephone, their agents are well trained to handle any objections, and are also very persuasive when potential clients ask if the company is legitimate. Basically they tell the client what they want to hear, to gain their trust.

The agents tell the potential client that there is a demand for their particular unit, week, etc, and that they already have a deposit from a buyer that is waiting for a unit in that particular resort. They then go on to tell the client that they have to pay a fee that will be returned to them once the sale goes through. This ‘fee’ relates to the administration costs that will be recoverable once the sale is finalised. Pana Travel take up to €3000 for this fee that is to be transferred to a Spanish bank account, usually in the name of an English individual, to make the whole scam more believable.

Once this fee is paid, there is never a sale that goes through, and of course the clients get fobbed off with excuse after excuse why they haven’t received their ‘fee’ back, but by this time it is long gone. The email address that they provide you with is panatravelagency@mail.com, which is not displayed anywhere on the website that they tell you is theirs. The website is not relative to their business, www.pana.com, from the website we can see that there are two offices in USA, however this website may not even be owned by them, even though it has been registered anonymously.

We at the TCA would recommend if you are contacted by Pana, not to give them any personal details at all, note the number that they have called you from, and then give us a call to let us know what happened. With numerous complaints, we at the TCA will be able to investigate further into who this rogue company are, and where they are operating. Our contact telephone and email are below.

 

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