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Timeshare Scammer Steals Lawyer’s Identity

A scammer who targeted vulnerable timeshare owners Urgent to offload their burdens, stole the identity of a lawyer from Florida to make his scam appear legitimate.

The scammer would call people who had placed ads to sell their timeshares and tell them their property could be sold if they forwarded closing costs to the lawyer, David Eaton, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Eaton, a former prosecutor and now an estate planning lawyer, learned of the scam several years ago when he got a call from the Florida Bar, according to the article. A woman had complained that she sent money … Read more

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Timesharing in a pandemic!

As the Covid-19 Pandemic continues into 2021, there seems to be little hope that any of us may get to go abroad this year. Even with the successful rate of vaccinations we have been seeing the new government restrictions being voted on by MPs on Monday may mean holidaying abroad is banned altogether, or at least until the European rates are under control again. However long this may take it seems likely most of us will be booking a staycation this summer.

Travel is now limited due to coronavirus and travelling abroad could mean a £5,000 fine if you do … Read more

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Wyndham Opens New Resort

Wyndham Destinations opens its first resort in Portland Oregon

Wyndham Destinations has opened its doors to its newest resort based in Oregon U.S. The Urban WorldMark by Wyndham Resorts is the company’s eighth Oregon based property and the first ever timeshare resort in the city.

CEO of Wyndham Destinations, Michael Brown attended the opening, which was attended by owners and guests. Portland marks another Urban location for the Wyndham portfolio, which also includes San Francisco, New Orleans and New York.

Michael Brown said: “With a vibrant dining scene, eclectic shopping and nearness to outdoor activities, it’s no surprise our owners … Read more

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Scam Timeshare exit companies cons $2.2 million

The Better Business Bureau is alert residents of Missouri to be careful when looking to exit their timeshare contracts.

Desperate timeshare owners, looking to get out of their lengthy expensive contracts are falling victim to rogue timeshare exit companies, throughout Missouri the Better Business Bureau is claiming.

One family who discovered this for themselves, took their story to a local news channel to warn others facing the same problem. Thirty years ago, a local family and their three children purchased a timeshare in Sedona. The fees started off just $38 a year but eventually increased to a whopping $3,700 annually.… Read more

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Luxury Tui Holiday Turns Into Nightmare

One families dream 4* holiday ruined after family are booked at unfit resort.

A family who forked out £11,600 for a dream holiday to the Dominican Republic, claim their holiday was ruined after they found cockroaches in the room, a filthy pool and drunk people vomiting in the hotel reception.

To make matters even worse, the family claim they came down with a sickness bug during their stay. Mr Hill told the Mail Online that their dream Christmas getaway was totally ruined. He said: “I’m a pretty well grounded, level headed person but even I was close to tears during … Read more

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Timeshare Scam Victims, Not Holding Their Breath

An elderly couple who were targeted by serial timeshare conman Frank Madden, say they are not expecting to see a penny of their money back.  

Basil and Judith Jones fell were conned out of almost £2,500 by Frank Madden and his fake holiday scam and have told ITV news how angry they are after being duped and how five years on they are no closer to getting their money back.

Mrs Jones said: “I was very angry to start with and hurt that someone could do that. But when we found out about his previous activities, we thought how could … Read more

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Investigation finds timeshare company scamming clients

The consumer Advocacy group the Better Business Bureau has issued a warning over the actions of a timeshare exit company.

An elderly couple from the U.S. had enjoyed their vacation timeshare in New Jersey for 14 years. But when the annual maintenance fees more than doubled to over $1,500 a year, they found themselves out of pocket and enduring to keep up with the payments.

They received a targeted flyer in the post to timeshare owners explaining how, if they attended a short presentation for a free lunch, they would be able to successfully get out of their timeshare and … Read more

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Customer Services Officer Fined For Accessing Personal Data

Former customer services officer fined after unlawfully accessing personal data.

A former customer services officer for Stockport Homes Limited has been found guilty at Stockport Magistrates court and ordered to pay a £300 fine, for unlawfully accessing personal data.

The court heard how Wendy Masterson spent time looking at anti-social behaviour cases without a legal reason to do so. In fact, she accessed Stockport Homes Limited case management system a total of 67 times between January and December 2017 when she was not authorised to do so. Her actions only came to light after concerns raised about her performance at … Read more

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Children left in tears when birthday treat became trip from hell

Family’s £3.5k dream Disney holiday to Florida turns into nightmare after series of errors .

 A holiday of a lifetime booked to celebrate a 60th birthday turned into the holiday from hell for one family. The nightmare began when holiday operators, Thomas Cook, contacted them to say that instead of flying from Gatwick, they would be flying from Manchester.  That was changed back to Gatwick about a month before they were due to fly on April 20. They arrived at the airport to be told their flights were OK, but there had not been an allocation for their baggage, … Read more

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HMRC puts an end to fraudsters spoof calling victims

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have put new protective controls in place to put an end to fraudsters deceiving the tax authority’s most recognisable helpline numbers.

Fraudsters have increasingly mimicked legitimate HMRC helpline numbers (often beginning with 0300) to dupe taxpayers and steal money. Last year alone, HMRC received over 100,000 phone scam reports.

How the scam works

HMRC have long warned about fake tax related scam calls. Fraudsters posing as HMRC use many different tactics to extract money from victims. However, HMRC say that there has been a sharp rise in the amount of scam calls being made to … Read more

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