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World Vacation Equity Grupo Sei Soluciones Empresariales Inteligentes timeshare marketing timeshare rental Orlando, Florida
We received a call from Mike Solis of World Vacation Equity asking if we would be interested in renting our timeshare weeks as he already had a buyer whom he named as the Heineken Corporation. He emailed us the proposal and the rental was very generous (first alert). The contract appeared to be very legitimate. Mike was very professional and convincing and it appeared he would not get any commission until we had our money, so we signed the agreement and faxed it back, however the fax number did not work (second alert). We scanned it and sent it electronically.
After four days, Mike called back to say we neede to pay the escrow fees which the buyer would reimburse us for. He sent us a very official guarantor contract. I was suspicious but wanted to believe in this deal so I wired the money which went to an account in Jalisco, Mexico. He told us Robert Almos from an escrow company in Denver would be calling us as they were the firm handling the escrow.
Again, after a few days, Mike called back to say we needed to pay the Mexican government the income tax on the deal, again, the purchaser would reimburse us. This time, Mike laid on the charm, telling us all about his wife from the Netherlands, whom he met on a cruiseship, and their new baby girl, and his mom and dad who still lived in Mexico. Again, wanting to believe in the deal, we wired the money to the account in Mexico.
Shortly after this, Ted Somers called us telling us he was taking over from Mike Solis. This fellow was not as charming or detailed as Mike Solis and I definitely began to doubt the legitimacy of the entire operation. However, we were in this far and I so wanted to get my money back and finish the deal.
Again 4 days later, (the `closing date`on the deal kept getting pushed ahead), Daniel Fitzpatrick from the company in Denver called to say we neede to pay the SAT tax on the deal for yet more money (Phone: 303-954-4338). I was very abrupt and told them that this had better be it and that the deal had better close (all the while having a sinking feeling in my gut).
Ted Somers called again and was very vague and unprofessional...I called 407-982-1972 and asked to speak to Mike Solis and was transferred to Tom Somers who said Mike was no longer with the company. When I asked why, he laughed and gave me some feeble reasons. It was then that I knew I had been scammed.
The sad thing is...I consider myself decently intelligent. These scammers caught us at a difficult time financially: we really needed a financial break so we fell for their `deal`hook line and sinker because we so desperately needed the money. We borrowed every dime we sent them...now we need to repay it plus interest...
Lesson learned - listen to your intuition, if it sounds the least bit suspicious or too good to be true - tell these criminals never to call back and hang up immediately. Also, it struck me as odd that these Latino sounding men all had very anglosized names...again, I should have listened to the little voice inside my head telling me to beware.