There are literally hundreds of Boiler Room operations out there trying to get your money. Many of them operate from outside the U.S. in order to escape US laws. They prey on the fact that it has always been very difficult for you to sell your timeshare. They know how frustrated you have become and tell you exactly what you want to hear…that they can sell your timeshare for you at the price you want for it. Many will tell you that they have a buyer for it right now willing to pay your price. That excites you, of course, and then they drop the bomb. They give you some cock n’ bull reason why you have to send them money up front before they will consummate the transaction. The amount is usually between $300 and $600. You will never see that money again, nor will there be a transaction, and you will most likely never get them on the phone again.

The scam that is the most successful is the “Appraisal Scam”. This one comes from one of those boiler room calls, or sometimes you will get a solicitation in the mail and you must make the call. In any case the pitch is simple. They tell you that they have buyers galore looking for timeshares like yours, or that they work for a company that is buying timeshares in order to create portfolios for rental or for investors, or some other cock n’ bull story. They ask you how much you will sell your timeshare for. Whatever you tell them they will say that is great. They will sell it for you or buy it from you at that price. There will be no fee to you for the transaction. Of course you feel great because you have been wanting to sell for a long time. Here comes the “Hook”. Do you have an appraisal on your timeshare? Of course you say no. They tell you that this is not a problem because they can arrange this for you. All you have to do is pay for it. It usually costs about $400 to $600. This requirement sounds quite reasonable to you as you remember that you had to pay for an appraisal when you bought your home, so why should the sale of this timeshare property be any different. If you send them the money you will receive a little postcard in the mail saying “Appraisal” on it. It will have a price of at least the amount that you agreed to sell your timeshare to them for. When you try to call them to finalize the sale of your timeshare you will either be ignored or be told that they decided not to buy it after all. In many cases when you try to call them they will have closed up shop and moved on.

And here’s the most fascinating one. You will either get a call or a mail solicitation from a branch of a well known real estate company such as Century 21 or ERA. They will use one or both of the scams above. Even if you feel suspicious you may be tempted to send them your money because of the internationally known legitimate name. If you send them your money you will never see it again and your timeshare will simply be placed on a database in someone’s computer that is never seen by any potential buyers.

Here’s a rule of thumb to go by…

Whatever the pitch, no matter the promises made, if anyone asks you to send money up front…don’t. We’ve been selling resale timeshares for many years and have yet to come across a legitimate company that asks for money up front.

If you have been contacted by a scam outfit or have heard of one that is different from the ones we’ve told you about here please E-mail us.

Best regards

Uri and Lyn