Action Fraud has announced they have received more than 30 reports of timeshare fraud over the summer months.
Unfortunate victims are said to have lost more than £94,000 during the months of May and August 2017.
The most common scam is requesting consumers to pay fees upfront for services offered. Upon sending the funds contact ceases immediately or the sales representatives are no longer available, call back requests are ignored and requests for refunds where disregarded.
Action Fraud commented that in most instances the holiday property been sold often doesn’t even exist.
Upon further investigation, reports show that the scammers are in fact cold calling victims of previous fraudulent or mis-sold timeshare, informing consumers that they are calling from Spanish authorities or legal firms. Advising such victims that they are now due compensation, all they need to do is pay an upfront fee for administrative services and the rest they will deal with, after which the amount ‘owed’ to the duped can be refunded. Already having all the personal details and knowledge from the previous scam, obviously giving the scammers false credibility.
Chris Felton, Detective inspector of the City of London Police’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau said: “With more than £90,000 worth of timeshare fraud losses reported to Action Fraud since May, we are urging people to be cautious. Fraudsters lure people in with an attractive timeshare offer on a holiday property only to then cease contact once the victim has paid an advance fee.
“As with all victims of fraud, our reports show that timeshare fraud victims are vulnerable to recovery fraud. Recovery fraud is a common way in which fraudsters attempt to defraud people who have already fallen victim to fraud by offering to return what they have lost.
“If in doubt, always check directly with the relevant organisation to ensure the correspondence has come from a legitimate source.”
Victims of fraud are advised to be conscious of recovery fraud and to challenge or ignore contact from companies or people you don’t know or haven’t heard of. We at TCA urge you to inquire as to how they know that you have been a victim of fraud.
TCA and Action Fraud offer advice such as:
- Do not respond to unsolicited phone calls
- Terminate the call the moment you are asked for bank or credit card details
- Check contact details, i.e. such as web addresses from any business, including slight differences such as ‘. co.uk’ to ‘.org’;
- And last but not least always check the terms and conditions
We cannot stress the importance of reading the small print. In addition, always be suspicious of companies that don’t provide paperwork in advance and we recommend you seek prior advice through your solicitor before parting with any cash.
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