Beware of Fraud If You Are Selling Your Timeshare

Our BBB® has received calls for years from people being approached to sell their timeshares. Unfortunately, many of them had already been victimized by someone claiming to sell or transfer ownership for a fee, pocketing the money, never to be heard from again. During tough economic times, many timeshare owners may decide they can no longer afford their vacation rentals. Or maybe they inherited a timeshare as part of a parent’s estate and don’t want to keep it. How it works:

Con artists promise they have a buyer ready to purchase your timeshare, or promise they can sell it. Just pay an upfront fee—usually via a wire transfer—to cover closing costs, services, taxes, timeshare maintenance or other fees. Unfortunately, once you send the money, no sale, rental or purchase is completed, and the con artist disappears along with your money, often in the thousands.

To add insult to injury, a second fraudulent business may contact the victim offering to help recover the money lost in the first scheme, for yet another fee. You guessed it, no money is recovered and telephone calls and emails go unanswered. Another variation preys on owners of vacation timeshares in Mexico. They often use names of companies you recognize while having no affiliation with them. Many have professional-looking but usually phony websites, fancy-sounding titles and addresses, and purport to be escrow, timeshare resale, finance, and/or title service businesses. Many of these con artists engage in identity theft, and are representing themselves as actual California real estate licensees. In those cases, the criminals will use an actual real estate broker’s name and license number. If the timeshare owner victim calls the broker’s number, provided via email, phone call, postal mail, or on the bogus website, the voice of the alleged broker is actually that of the con artist. Another version claims to represent someone in Latin America who wants to purchase property in the US to get an American visa. All the seller has to do is wire a transaction fee….

Look for these warning signs to detect fraud:

Be wary of upfront fees. Legitimate fees are typically paid after the sale is concluded or are deducted from the sale price. Timeshare resale cons often promise they have a buyer who is ready and willing to pay a lot in order to get you to send money. Be cautious; no one can promise a quick sale.

Don’t wire money, pay in cash, or send a money order, certified bank or cashier’s check. Money sent by these methods is very difficult for law enforcement officials to help you recover. It’s as good as lost.

Do your research. Don’t be tricked by a fancy address or professional-looking website.

Check with your resort where your timeshare is located to see if they impose any restrictions, fees or other limitations associated with sales. Ask if the resort has its own resale program or has ever worked with the reseller who has contacted you. Demand everything in writing. Consider having an attorney review the documents before you sign anything. Stay vigilant to ensure you profit from selling your timeshare, instead of giving the money to a crook.