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Travel Agents Sentenced For Fraud

A travel firm based in Leicester ran by three men has been running a multi-million pound scam. The firm falsely claimed to be licensed to sell Hajj pilgrimage package trips to Mecca. The three men falsified documents and used the logos of ATOL licensed companies to legitimise their business and take advantage of people wishing to visit the holy Muslim site.

After multiple complaints, Leicester City Council Trading Standards launched an investigation into the company and found that paying customers who used the travel agent were subjected to poor quality, dirty and dangerous accommodation and transport.

Judge Timothy Spencer … Read more

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Timeshare Resorts Setting Sites On Urban Destinations

Diamond Resorts Investing in St. Louis.

Diamond Resorts is turning a hotel in St Louis into a timeshare destination. Diamond has purchased six floors of the 29 storey City Place Hotel and will convert the six floors into luxury timeshare apartments. Once the redesign is complete in 2020, City Place Tower will be Diamond’s flagship urban destination.

Michael Flaskey, chief executive officer of Diamond Resorts, said: “St. Louis is a new market for the industry and we are proud that Diamond Resorts will be the only company offering vacation ownership Lodging for the millions of families who explore St. … Read more

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87% of Black Friday deals aren’t as good as you might think

Consumer advocacy group, Which, have been tracking product prices for the last twelve months and found that better bargains are available after Black Friday. The investigation found that 87% of products were the same price or cheaper than their Black Friday price at other times of the year. They also discovered that 46% of products were cheaper on at least one day during the six months after Black Friday.

Which covered retailers including Currys PC World, Amazon, John Lewis and Argos and tracked 94 popular products for six months before and after Black Friday last year. They found that most … Read more

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Illegal Timeshare resort Tax Ruling could be overturned.

Maui County in Hawaii is waiting for a second court to rule after appealing a decision made by a Judge in march, who agreed the timeshare property tax classification established more than 10 years ago is illegal. If the county loses the suit, they could be faced with a bill for $34 million in property tax refunds.

A lawsuit was filed against Maui County back in 2013 by Ocean Resort Villas Vacation Owners Association which essentially disputes the classification of tax levied against timeshare resorts. Since 2008, the rate for timeshares has been $15,41 per $1,000 of net taxable … Read more

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£6.1 Million a year lost to courier fraud

Fraudsters posing as police officers and bank officials have stolen over £6.1 million over the past year. The scams directly target aged and vulnerable people, they call victims claiming that their bank account is at risk from fraudsters. These despicable and elaborate crimes have been dubbed ‘Courier Fraud’ and in most cases, they involve a victim being tricked into giving out their personal information or pin numbers, followed by a courier arriving at their home to collect their bank cards or cash.

A victim in her late 70’s was told that there was a suspected counterfeiting ring at her … Read more

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Disney Set To Expand Their Timeshare Offerings

Walt Disney World Build 2 New Timeshare Resorts. The Florida-based theme park resort said that the as-yet-unnamed resort will open in 2022. It will have 900 hotel rooms, as well as villas for Disney’s timeshare program. The 27,000-acre tourist destination already has 36 resorts on its property, as well as four theme parks. This new project joins three other resort construction projects underway at Disney World.

Disney Parks and Resorts also announced a new development for Disney Vacation Club, it will be an entirely new resort near Epcot called Disney Riviera Resort and also unveiled a new skyway transportation system … Read more

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Are you paying too much for your groceries?

Do you shop at small supermarket convenience stores ? Well, if you do, you are probably paying more than if you shopped at their larger stores. In some cases, it can be double the price to buy goods from them. The BBC Inside Out programme carried out a survey to compare the price of items from Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s, M & S and, Waitrose supermarkets with those sold at their convenience stores. The survey found there was a big difference in the way these supermarkets have been pricing items.

Convenience stores now account for a quarter of the grocery market; understandable … Read more

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Defence attorney sent to jail for his part in $3 Million Timeshare scam

An attorney representing a bogus timeshare company is sentenced to jailtime after imploring guilty to attempting to influence witnesses and lying to prosecutors.

Joshua Gayl pleaded guilty in court to a single count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Gayl had been representing a timeshare consultancy firm, who were being prosecuted for conning timeshare owners out of more than $3 million, through their fraudulent consulting services. The owners of Vacation Ownership Group LLC were sentenced back in 2016 to a total of 51 years, for running a mortgage fraud scheme orchestrated to sell consulting services to owners of vacation properties. … Read more

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Repeat Timeshare Fraudster Sent to Prison

Wesley Aldred from Kissimmee, Florida was sentenced to a day in prison in 2015 for a timeshare telemarketing scam. He has now been sentenced to a new term of 21 months for running a similar scam while on supervised release. Aldred was one of a group of telemarketers accused of participating in a timeshare resale fraud scam which focused timeshare owners all over the United States. They would contact timeshare owners and falsely claim to have found a buyer for their timeshare, if they could pay a small fee upfront then the company would facilitate the sale. Victims paid thousands … Read more

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Timeshare owners take Marriott to court

Timeshare owners are continuing with their suit against Marriott Vacations Club, despite the resort giant’s attempts to disrupt and delay the class action. Lawyers for the timeshare owners have now asked the court in Florida to penalise Marriott over intentionally withholding documents. This is the latest action taken by the owners in an attempt to hold Marriott Vacation Club responsible over its conduct. They allege Marriott operated a fraudulent scheme which allegedly sold dishonest points based timeshare memberships. If the owners are successful, it could have huge implications for Marriott and other resorts, over how they sell timeshares and … Read more

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