In Mexico, there are many genuine and legitimate choices to become a timeshare owner. There are numerous timeshare owners that are totally satisfied with their timeshare purchase and they enjoy luxurious vacations throughout Mexico at numerous beautiful resorts. Unfortunately, there are many scammers out there that try to scam timeshare owners and these scammers have created fraudulent and fake companies in an attempt to convince timeshare owners that they are actually a legitimate consulting company that can help timeshare owners. You can protect yourself from becoming a timeshare scam victim. Read below to learn how.
Are Timeshares a Scam?
In past years, many individuals truly believed that most timeshares scams were connected to fake and fraudulent timeshare companies that sold timeshares illegally. Today, there are new scammers that are using a different approach to scam innocent people from the money. These scammers will focus on scamming timeshare membership owners by claiming they can cancel their timeshare membership or they can re-sell their timeshare membership. These fraudulent scammers will tell the timeshare membership owners that they will sell your current timeshare membership if you upgrade your timeshare with their timeshare company. These scammers may even tell you that they currently have a buyer that is interesting in purchasing your old timeshare. How do you know that these are scammers? When you are asked to pay an upfront fee just to get the selling process started, then this is a red flag that you are going to be scammed. You should always be cautious and beware of any timeshare company that offers these type of services. Protect yourself and your timeshare by being alert and aware.
Timeshare Membership Consultant Scams
An advisory warning that was recently released by The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) states that timeshare membership scammers are not associated with their organization. The “Resort Consulting Advocates” is one particular fraudulent company. The ARDA advisory warning states that Resort Consulting Advocates have been scamming numerous timeshare membership owners by telling them that they have buyers that are interesting in purchasing their timeshare membership. Resort Consulting Advocates has even created false contracts for sales, which included that the sale was “100% guarantee”, but this fraudulent company did not have a buyer for the timeshare membership and then charged the victim a large upfront fee. After they received the upfront fee, then the fraudulent company disappeared with the victim’s money and the victim never heard from them again.
Fraudulent Scamming Resellers
Unfortunately, the “Resort Consulting Advocates” is only one of numerous timeshare scamming company that poses as a genuine and legitimate company determined to persuade timeshare membership owners that they should use them for their timeshare reselling services. These fraudulent scamming resellers will change their company names many times so they can avoid being caught and prosecuted by legal authorities. Timeshare membership owners are not well informed on who they are truly working with, and the fraudulent scamming reselling companies subsequently reach many victims to scam. If you are contacted by any timeshare resale company or a timeshare cancellation company, you should always be very cautious. You should avoid them all at all costs to protect yourself. If you want to protect yourself and your investment you should only deal with the original timeshare company that you purchased your timeshare membership with. This will protect you from being scammed. If you are having any issues or you have complaints about your timeshare membership, only address these situations with a staff member with the original timeshare company. The timeshare company has trained employees that will assist you to resolve your problem. You should never get involved with a third party as they are only trying to steal your hard earned money.
Have you been scammed? Now, what should you do?
If you have had a timeshare scammer contact you or you paid a large upfront fee to a company that you later found out was a scammer and a fake, you should immediately contact the timeshare company that you purchased your timeshare membership from. You should explain the situation with them as soon as possible. Your timeshare company will alert other genuine timeshare companies so other timeshare members are not scammed. You should also contact local authorities along with the Attorney General in your state and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) so you can file a complaint. You can prevent other timeshare members from being scammed by filing a complaint about the timeshare scam.
Upfront Fees – Never Pay Any
If you are asked to pay an upfront fee by a third party you should know that this is a scam. You should never pay any upfront fees. Research the company that offered you this service, because timeshare scammers ask for an upfront fee and they are only out to scam your money. Contact the timeshare company where your timeshare membership was initially purchased. When you do this you are protecting yourself from being scammed and you can still enjoy and use your timeshare membership.
If you are ask to pay timeshare upfront fees, then you should know that it’s a scam.
