Protect Yourself from Timeshare Scams

Sadly, within the timeshare industry and vacation ownership industry scamming has becoming a regular occurrence as you probably already know. We are going to help you protect your investment by providing you with legal educational resources from our attorneys and partners within the industry. You can protect yourself from timeshare scams with the tips provided below.

We are providing you with the needed information that will assist you in seeing the timeshare scams along with avoiding their scamming tactics and unwanted telephone calls. The tips provided below should assist you with any questions that you may have to protect yourself from timeshare scams.

Protect Yourself From Timeshare Scams

How do I know when I have received a call from a timeshare scammer? 

Unfortunately, there is no sure way that you will know as we never know who is contacting us from the other phone line. First, you should always trust your gut. If it seems like it is just too good to be true, then it is probably a scam. Remember, scam artists are very good at scamming, and you will be unsure if the person from the phone is being legit. You may be wanting to know who is sending you an email wanting to rent out your timeshare. There are times that the scam artists will give you a company name that you can research online and the company name sounds genuine and legit. There are times that the scam artist company will pretend to represent a genuine resort or even our organization, and they may even tell you that they are contacting you “for us”. Many times there will be no information given about the company besides the name of the company and their phone number.

If you think that a scam artist contacted you, you should do these things:

1. You should try to keep the scam artist on the phone as long as you can so you can get more information about the organization. You should write down all contacts with you including emails and phone calls and you should make sure that the date and time is noted too. You should never forward any emails that looks suspicious because you don’t want to take a chance in spreading viruses. If the scam artists asks you any questions that pertains to your timeshare membership you should avoid in giving any information. You should never give the scam artist caller your personal bank account information, credit card information, and you should never wire money because the deal that they are offering you seems too good to be true.
2. You should always file a police report with the local police department. You will want to provide the police with all the information that you can.
3. You should inform the caller that you want removed from their contact list right now, then hang up the phone!
4. You should confide with the scam artists list. The ARDA provides an informational library that is centered around fraud and scams. The articles are updated regularly and you can see the articles by clicking here. (http://www.arda.org/advisories)

Where can you go to make a report complaint for a scam artist?

1. You should contact the Federal Trade Commission, Business Fraud Division 1-877-382-4357. You can also file an online complaint by clicking here: (https://www.ftc.gov/)
2. You should report your scam artist experience with your Attorney General Office in your state. You can search the Attorney General Office online at any search engine by typing: For example: “California Attorney General Office” and the first link that you will see is the “Complaint” link.
3. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPD) is a new agency that you may not know about, but they are very aggressive in capturing scam artists and they are very sensitive for innocent consumers being scammed. You can file an online complaint by clicking here: (https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/)

One of the best ways that you can protect yourself from timeshare scams is being educated. We really hope that the advice and tips that we have provided will never need to be used by you. Together we can help you protect yourself from timeshare scams.