Sell A Timeshare Now Scammed me $2200 and disappeared

[whui1 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close whui1]

I was scammed $2200 commission for a timeshare sales from Sell A Timeshare Now in Atlanta, GA in Sept. 2012. Carolynn Renolds called me from Sell A Timeshare Now LLC. She said she had found a buyer who will buy my timeshare for $15000. The buyer is financing the purchase and had approved. I was listing the timeshare for $3900 only. It sounds too good to be true. However, she sounds like she is a honest older lady. It didn't fit the profile of a scammer. They have a fairly good website with a few phone extensions in their office. That means this company is supposed to have at least 4 to 5 people. She asked me to wire them $2200 or 15% commission up front. However, after I paid them the money and signed the contract. She was disappeared and no voicemail and email reply for a few months. I had filed complaints to BBB and FBI online. The BBB tried to contact them but also hitting a wall. FBI may not even care about $2200. Is anyone having the same issue? If you had been successfully deal with Sell A Timeshare Now LLC or scammed by them, please let me know. You can send an email to me. Is there any way to catch this thief?

[Tia Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tia]

No experience but sorry doubt you will get your $ back. Too bad you didn't find this website and ask before. When I read she sounded like an honest older lady so didn't feel like a scam that actually screams scam. 1 -They called you 2- upfront $ 3- offered way more then you were asking.

[JudyS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JudyS]

This is a classic timeshare scam, unfortunately -- the "upfront fee" scam. When someone asks for a lot of money upfront, it's a scam. Telling you they can get you more than your asking price is a way to manipulate you. Asking for the money via wire is a way to make sure the money can't be traced.

This scam is *extremely* common and the Florida Attorney General's office has been very aggressive about prosecuting people who commit it. I don't know if Georgia is also aggressively pursuing these scammers, but you could look into it. You could try contacting the Georgia Attorney General's office, or you could contact the timeshare fraud department in Florida and see if they know anything about this company. The Florida dept can be reached via http://www.myfloridalegal.com/timeshares

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Did you know how to google before you did business with them?

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Did you know how to google before you did business with them?

Since I have been reprimanded for this post, I want to make clear that I was 100% sincere in asking this question and did not intend to insult the OP.

Those of you who know me, know of my sensitivity to the scam and sleaze that the timeshare industry has become and that I am overly-sympathetic to the point of putting myself in personal jeopardy to protect people from becoming victims. I could produce a few hundred posts, no, thousands of posts, to demonstrate that.

You also know that I am not in the habit of blindly insulting strangers on the Internet. Surely the preponderance of my posts the last 15 years should attest to that.

I asked the question because where I am, in Florida, around a large number of older people, not that older is important but it seems to be, and we have been talking about google and the Internet a lot the past few days, I am amazed at how many do not know how easy it is to protect themselves, or to find an abundance of information on anything, by doing a simple google search.

http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-a...w=1280&bih=572

About 1,240,000 results

Good night.

[LindaRogers Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LindaRogers]

Timeshares need to be looked up as a purchase and not an investment. Regardless of how timeshares are presented, they don´t perform as well as a house or stock investment. If you look around the resale market for timeshares on websites like EBay, Redweek, or TUGBBS will find that you can buy a timeshare for far less money than what the first owner purchased it for. {advertisement deleted}

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Next thing to watch out for is those who will promise to get your money back or solve your timeshare problems. Virtually all of them are con artists and you will find they want (1) an upfront fee (2) a fee to take your timeshare off your hands (3) an appraisal fee (4) a listing fee (5) legal fees. Timesharing is rife with crooks who fail to deliver and only want to scam you out of more money. If something doesn't sound right or sounds too good-run away.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

There are two keys to identify a scam in timeshare:
1) large upfront fee
2) being cold called

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Since I have been reprimanded for this post, I want to make clear that I was 100% sincere in asking this question and did not intend to insult the OP.

Those of you who know me, know of my sensitivity to the scam and sleaze that the timeshare industry has become and that I am overly-sympathetic to the point of putting myself in personal jeopardy to protect people from becoming victims. I could produce a few hundred posts, no, thousands of posts, to demonstrate that.

You also know that I am not in the habit of blindly insulting strangers on the Internet. Surely the preponderance of my posts the last 15 years should attest to that.

I asked the question because where I am, in Florida, around a large number of older people, not that older is important but it seems to be, and we have been talking about google and the Internet a lot the past few days, I am amazed at how many do not know how easy it is to protect themselves, or to find an abundance of information on anything, by doing a simple google search.

http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-a...w=1280&bih=572

About 1,240,000 results

Good night.

I was not the one who complained - but this is a really thoughtful post.
Sometimes we forget that 'others' do not have the knowledge that us veterans have.

Sorry that OP was scammed

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

thoughtful happens every now and then