This involves R and D Properties who claim to market and resell timeshares. They claim to be associated with Las Palmas Residences, a timeshare property in Costa Rica. They are also associated with an escrow company called Infinity Financial Services supposedly in Florida (again address does not exist and they are not registered with FL ).
They claim to have a buyer for your timeshares and say they do not want any payment before closing and that all the funds will come from the buyer's payment. After signing a contract they tell you that you have to pay the transfer taxes (to prevent money laundering) and this needs to be wired to a bank in Mexico.
I have emails, documents and even a voice recording (I told them I was recording).
This is a total SCAM.
The names used (probably not their real names):
Anthony Guzman, Agent
Chris Solis, Supervisor
Dereck Westbrook Legal Advisor
Steve Griffin Executive Closing Agent -- Infinity Financial Services
If anyone else has had this problem, I encourage you to add to this report and report it to the Federal Trade Commission, and IC3 (http://www.ic3.gov/), a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the involved State Attorney General Fraud Hotlines.
margaretsims90
Alabama,#2Consumer Comment
Fri, February 27, 2015
When taking a vacation, timeshare owners want the newest and most luxurious accommodation that they can afford with their hard-earned money. The timeshare scam salespeople are aware of this fact and use it to their advantage in order to increase their sales.
Austin Aaronson, Esq.
Longwood,#3Consumer Suggestion
Thu, January 29, 2015
Chances are good that during the sales pitch leading up to your timeshare purchase, you were promised that you were making a real estate 'investment', that there exists a substantial secondary market for timeshare resales, that your timeshare would appreciate in value, that there were people 'waiting in the wings' to purchase the same unit, time was of the essence, etc…
Sad to say, if there exists a secondary market for timeshare sales at all, it is extremely limited. But this has in no way prevented the formation of a cottage industry for another set of unsavory types in the "timeshare 'resale'" industry. These are individuals who typically work out of boiler room settings, who charge exorbitant fees, pocket the money, and thereafter generally do nothing. They are not licensed realtors, and their 'clientele' consists largely of elderly individuals who are especially vulnerable. The situation has become so dire that it has prompted the State of Florida, for example, to pass the Timeshare Resale Accountability Act. Dozens of criminal prosecutions have come out of legislation like this. According to Federal Trade Commission official Charles Harwood, quoted in the Bloomburg Report: “Timeshare resale scammers have cheated tens of thousands of timeshare owners out of tens of millions of dollars by convincing them to pay for a false promise.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-06/florida-prosecutors-say-191-timeshare-cases-filed-in-crackdown.html
The bottom line: Don't get scammed again. Your best chance to keep this from happening is to hire an attorney. We have been specializing in legally rescinding timeshares for some time now, with very favorable results.
You owe it to yourself to obtain sound, competent legal representation by counsel with over twenty-five years experience in contract litigation. You will be made aware of your rights in addressing the situation with professionalism and integrity. In many cases we can obtain a legal rescission of the contract so as to get you out from under that oppressive lifelong timeshare obligation. At the very least, there often exist good faith legal grounds to warrant a formal dispute invoking federal consumer law to protect your credit with the national bureaus. We'll be happy to discuss your rights free of charge at 407-644-1336. You may also visit our website at http://www.aaronsonlawgroup.com.