Direct Transfers Blog

FTC Shuts Down Timeshare Scams In Florida

April 13, 2011

Here at Direct Transfers, we love a good story about thieves getting caught, so we were pretty excited when we learned that the Federal Trade Commission recently got granted a temporary restraining order from the US District Court of Tampa, Florida against five alleged timeshare scams operating in the state.

The temporary restraining orders were issued because “The FTC’s complaint alleges that the defendants in this case victimized consumers from all walks of life, including a significant number of senior citizens. The FTC is cracking down on timeshare resale scammers. Timeshare resale fraud, however, remains a significant and on-going problem,” said FTC Attorney William Maxson.

The Federal Trade Commission accused the companies of swindling timeshare owners desperate to unload their assets. According to the official complaint filed with the court, telemarketers claimed to have interested buyers for the properties, and tricked consumers into paying considerable fees, ranging from $200 to over $8,000, for the “transfer” of their timeshare investment.

In every single case, the victims said that no such buyers ever materialized, and that the timeshare resale companies completely ignored their calls and emails, and in all cases, denied any requests for a refund.

The Federal Trade Commission states that this type of action is in direct violation of the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

As if that wasn’t enough, the timeshare resale businesses have also been accused of calling hundreds of thousands of consumers whose numbers are on the FTC’s Do Not Call Registry between November 2009 and December 2010.

“Consumers should use extreme caution when dealing with timeshare resale companies – particularly companies that call consumers in violation of Do Not Call laws. If your phone number is on the Do Not Call Registry and you get an unsolicited call from an unknown company offering to resell or rent your timeshare, hang up and report the call to the FTC,” Maxson urged.

If you’re tired of sorting out criminals from companies and need someone you can trust to help you out of your timeshare, give us a call today.

Filed under: Timeshare News

Tags: Federal Trade Commission, timeshare scams