Skip to main content

The FTC and state consumer protection agencies have shut down dishonest timeshare resellers for bilking timeshare owners out of millions of dollars. If you’re selling a timeshare, listen carefully for the promise of lots of money quickly and a request for an upfront fee. Those are two key signs of timeshare resale scam — and someone you don’t want to do business with.     

In one recent case, Vacation Property Services claimed to represent big-name companies eager to buy timeshares for business travel and events. The company guaranteed timeshare owners hefty returns if they moved quickly on the offer. But first, the company said the owner had to pay from $500 to $2,000, via credit card, in “registration” and other fees to seal the deal.

Timeshare Resale Scams Infographic

Timeshare Resale Scams
Infographic

The company’s promises of ready buyers, fast sales, big profits and money-back guarantees turned out to be lies. What’s more, the timeshare owners were stuck with debt on their credit cards from paying the “fee” after the company told them that the sale would be complete — and that they’d have their money — by the time the credit card bill came.

If you own a timeshare, question any offers to help you resell it. Be skeptical of companies that:

  • claim the market in your area is “hot” and that they’re “overwhelmed” with buyer requests
  • say they have buyers ready to purchase your timeshare — or promise to sell your timeshare within a specific time
  • guarantee you’ll get big returns on your resale
  • require you to pay fees upfront — even if there’s the promise of a “money-back guarantee”
  • don’t provide a contract — or provide a contract that doesn’t accurately reflect conversations you had   

Read about buying and selling a timeshare, or check out our infographic to see how timeshare resale scams typically work.

Search Terms

It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.

The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

GotScammed
January 29, 2018

In reply to by dupedtoo

I'm in deep with this company (they still trying with new buyer and asking more fees) and would like some help PLEASE! to get my money back. Thank you.
TooGood2BTrue
September 09, 2017
We were contacted by International Real Estate earlier in the year. I was concerned about giving them info that could be used to steal our identity so we stopped conversations with Intl Real Estate before they even asked for money (thanks to those who have posted here). Now we have been contacted by Gold Coast Real Estate. Very similar M.O. so I suspect it is the same group of scammers... Company name that is similar to some other company elsewhere, working with corporations that are in other countries, offering lots of money, etc. We asked for contact information for the buyer so we could check on the legitimacy and they told it would be on closing documents (seems a little late in the process to me for that). Woman's name is Gina Falco and she is licensed but I suspect she either stole the name or maybe really is licensed but doesn't mean she is legit. Things to note on their website (and the escrow company's website) that send up a flag for me ... dead links, lack of depth and content on the website overall, semi-finished webpages and featuring real estate they have sold but no link to details. Main big flag for me is there are people selling time shares for $1 on eBay so why are they offering me thousands of dollars for mine? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I think the timeshare industry is a contributor (indirectly of course) to all of this - locking people into life long contracts is ridiculous. Desperation to get out of the maintenance fees just feeds the scammers endlessly.
janetw
October 13, 2017

I recently recovered funds from a scam broker, Omega Options. They intentionally make you loose trades so you deposit more money. I had to hire a professional to get my money back. Lesson learnt, happy to share my experience.

Jorge Mendoza
September 12, 2017
I receive a cal from American International Investment Group in behalf of All American Real Estate LLC and we have conversations for over 1 month, they have all my info about my vacation plan in Royal-Hyatt, they said all the right things, but the ask for $1200 usd for an international investment tramit and that make the red flag, be aware, fraud fraud fraud
Scammers beware!
September 15, 2017
I have also been contacted by a Gina Falco of Gold Coast Real Estate to purchase by timeshare. I, like others who have posted messages on this site, am quite skeptical of them, and did contact my timeshare company, who did had not received any specific complaints about Gold Coast. I will see how far this goes, but will not forward any monies to anyone. It certainly does seem to good to be true...
Poseidon
September 19, 2017

In reply to by Scammers beware!

I also have received an offer from Gold coast real estate. I have judged started to research this. Please keep us updated. Thank you
Nutty anny
October 13, 2017

In reply to by Poseidon

I also received an email from gold coast & am just going 2 play along till they ask 4 money. Even then I will string them along. As it is definately a scam & they dont exist please dont send money as u will never see it again. There r many scams wen it comes 2 timeshare resale, please, please dont take the bait.
Scammed&Mad
September 21, 2017

In reply to by Scammers beware!

Go back and read the post from TooSmart4Scammers on September 8th. It fully details what took place in our situation. Call from Gold Coast Real Estate Inc in New York with an unnamed "buyer" and a fabulous offer to buy our vacation club membership in Cabo San Lucas. We took the bait, and accepted the offer. Then the "escrow" company Global Alpha Capital LLC entered the picture to set up an escrow account to "hold" the funds from the buyer using Citibanamex bank. Everything looked legit. Websites, letterhead, etc. I will spare you the gory details...but we are out $15K and they are still trying to contact us for more. Right now we are not responding to phone calls and filing a complaint with the State's Attorney General. DO NOT BITE! Learn from our mistake!
deltablue
September 27, 2017

In reply to by Scammed&Mad

We were contacted and told no money would be asked for. When and what for did they ask you for some money? We are playing along and wondering if we are being unwise to even talk to this Gold Coast Real Estate company. The guy we are talking to is named Thomas.
Scammed&Mad
October 01, 2017

In reply to by deltablue

The first money they will ask for is some fee to get an SRE Taxpayer ID. Don't bite (like we did).
dupedtoo
October 03, 2017

In reply to by Scammed&Mad

Thomas did the same to us. We are out $12k. I filed a report wth BBB, a police report, requested a reversal of the wires and filed with attorney general and FTC. I've is still calling me but I am not answering. They want more money for custom fees. I I spoke to the BBB representative the more compliants filed by consumers they will put these crooks out of business. I am not hopeful that I will get my money back but I will never stop!
jimori
November 06, 2017

In reply to by dupedtoo

The team from Gold Coast Real Estate, Inc. New York are really slick and good, as they appear to be using real names of real estate brokers as their cover. Everything was going well, with the signed Sales Agreement with over-the-top offer, a Citibanamax statement with the offer in cash, and no money upfront, until today! We just received the "...need to pay the SRE Fee of $3,7015" spiel. Will not send any money as some of done as we can't afford to lose the money!
dupetoo
November 17, 2017

In reply to by jimori

Glad you were not duped like I was... Do not fall for it. They are still calling me trying to get more money.
Fulltime traveler
October 04, 2017

In reply to by Scammed&Mad

Just want to say thank you for sharing your story and sorry for your experience. This Gold digger scammer called me 2 months ago, fortunately with my busy schedule I don't have to talk to them that much but when they got a hold of me they really try to place their bait right. Thanks God I didn't bite. They asked about $5K for somekind of escrow. But at the end I feel something not right with the hall stories. Anyway, just want to thank this forum and ppl share their experience.
Dee
September 26, 2017
Don't do business with Vacation Properties by Owner,LLC, Michael Scott, Sara Gravely, Robert Hall, Thomas White. Look them up on internet bilked thousands of people out of money.717-212-9129 or 717-212-9130 ,484-401-0264, 717-654-3251
Larry 59
September 27, 2017
Does anyone have any information on Evergreen Equity Investments in San Diego, California. Is this just another time share scam???
ThrowAway
October 02, 2017

In reply to by Larry 59

I just received a similar offer from Evergreen Equity for my timeshare in Cancun. Pretty sure this is a scam since the 'offer' is a fair amount larger than my initial purchase.
Very doubtful
October 19, 2017

In reply to by ThrowAway

My husband was just contacted by an Aaron Moore from Evergreen Equity Investements. He sent us an offer for a pretty reasonable amount. Only $17,000. Most of these scams send you offers for some crazy amount that is way more than what you paid for. We haven’t signed anything or agreed to anything. We’ve been scammed before and do our research before signing anything. Is this a scam? They seem more legit than other companies we’ve been approached by in the past. Thank you for your insight.
Larry 59
September 27, 2017
Does anyone have any info on Evergreen Equity Investments in San Diego, California. Just wondering if this is another time share scam??
Skeptical
September 27, 2017

In reply to by Larry 59

Yes, I am talking to a George Williams that's has a "buyer" for my timeshare. I got an email from a company in Detroit that's shows a screen shot of an escrow in my name. I'm supposed to pay 10% that is already in my escrow, then 8% in the end. I have not signed anything binding yet and won't until I have cash in hand.
Skeptical
September 27, 2017

In reply to by Larry 59

Yes, I am talking to a George Williams that's has a "buyer" for my timeshare. I got an email from a company in Detroit that's shows a screen shot of an escrow in my name. I'm supposed to pay 10% that is already in my escrow, then 8% in the end. I have not signed anything binding yet and won't until I have cash in hand.
Links2
December 23, 2017

In reply to by Larry 59

My wife and I just got an email from Evergreen Equities to buy our timeshare in Los Cabos. They just sent us a purchase offer for three times more than we paid for it. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Will request more information from them and decipher what they provide me.
kp859
September 27, 2017
I have been contacted by International sales group New York and they have a buyer for my property in Cancun. They state that everything is ready to proceed with the sale but that I need to pay a RSC fee to the Mexican government in order to sell my property. The fee is 4500 dollars. Should I pay this.
Director Z
September 28, 2017
Has anyone been contacted by Plant Travel out of Cheyenne or NNewport In t. Investment out of Colarado Springs, Colarad? They are offering to lease my timeshare and paying me 23K.
Watch out Gold…
September 29, 2017
We were contacted by Gold Coast Real Estate in NY who had buyer for our timeshare in Cancun. The offered us $48700 with no money upfront but 7% commission taken out of the proceeds. Sent us a bank statement on Citibanamex showing they had set up an account in escrow using Global Alpha Capital and the moneu was waiting for us. Then another phone call they are ready to proceed but I need to pay $3,709.00 USD to open a SRE Taxpayer ID in Mexico but Reimbursement would come from the buyer. And I just saw some pink pigs flying past my window!!!!!
FTC Staff
September 29, 2017

In reply to by Watch out Gold…

You can help law enforcement by reporting this the FTC at FTC.gov/complaint. The details you have about who contacted you and what they said are important. The information you give will go into a secure database that the FTC and other law enforcement agencies use for investigations. Thank you.

dupedtoo
October 03, 2017

In reply to by Watch out Gold…

They duped me out of $11k. Thomas from Gold Coast and Adam from Global Capital. I should have done more due diligence up front before wiring the money to some one in Mexico. I am embarrassed. I filed a police report and requested a reverse payment but the Mexican bank hasn't responded. I also filed with FTC and BBB. I am hopeful but very upset. I am never giving up until they are charged for fraudulent activities.
wes
September 29, 2017
Midwest is contacting me at this time. any more news/information on them. My contact is Leo Brown... Licensed individually and as co in Oklahoma City
Maximo Tony
February 19, 2020

In reply to by wes

I was contacted by Leo Brown ,broker , Asset Purchasing Group tel 405-648-4722 to buy my timeshare but send a wire transfer in US dollars to a Mexican agent in Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit. I bank in Mexico and wanted to send MX pesos, but said NO... All Mexican companies have peso accounts to pay salaries, taxes, utilities. Leo would not provide tel number of business in Mexico non exsisting.....
bree
October 02, 2017
Yes, I got a call from Gold Coast Real Estate / Global Alpha Capital for our Mayan Palace. They seem like a Scam. Now I am getting calls from Basic Real Estate Solutions out of TN. Their website seems better....and that they do more Real Estate deals. Has anyone dealt with them? They are offering a lot of money for timeshares that you can't get rid of on e-bay....so, not a good sign. TN group Contact is Linda Martinez, agent. The sales caller said that the Mayan Palace timeshare group sells your name to these (scam) companies and that is how they get your ph & name & unit info.
xerx
October 03, 2017

In reply to by bree

I initially received calls from a Thomas Brown from National Resources group out of Hendersonville, TN offering me $32K for my timeshare. I asked for more information via email and never received. Now I'm getting calls from Gold Coast Real Estate out of New York City from a guy named Thomas Brown, and to add insult to injury, they are only offering $24K. LOL. Don't fall for it!!
dupedtoo
October 07, 2017

In reply to by xerx

I fell for it and now out of $11K. Same person from Gokd Coast Real Estate. Just reported them to FTC and BBB.
Scammed&Mad
October 10, 2017

In reply to by dupedtoo

We have also filed complaints with the BBB, FTC, IL Atty General and NY Atty General.
same scam
November 20, 2017

In reply to by Scammed&Mad

Gold Coast Realty just called and it is a scam. I have been scammed by another company and now keep them long enough on the phone to get information to be able to warn others of the scam.
Dr Pam
October 06, 2017
Just went through a similar scam, but no loss. New name SIGNATURE LUXARY PROPERTIES. Called our home several times and finally answered. Sent me a "offer contract" by e-mail with totally correct information on our Mayan time share group. Supposedly offered $27,800 to be placed in a "trust" with 8% commission due. My lawyer suggested checking BBB in PA. NO LISTING. WE WILL NOT send any signatures on a letter of being interested.
Lombi
October 12, 2017
Does anyone knows something about "International Resourcing Group LLC" located in Nashville TN? They are willing to buy my timeshare
JosLouisR
October 13, 2017
I have an offer from Alta Vista realty in Chicago offering me twice the price I paid for Time share with Bahia Principe 5 years ago. Does anyone knows something about them ? The Byer would be a company in Mexico
timeshareresalescam
November 20, 2017

In reply to by JosLouisR

same story I got,, buyer in mexico. I got scammed a few thousand, they are all scams. no one will buy timeshares.
Nutty anny
October 13, 2017
They r all scams, my advice is string them along for as ling as u can so that they think they have another mug. It is obviously big money. Even if u report them they always change their name so not sure what any authorities over here can do
Psandhogs
October 17, 2017
If you want to know if it's a scam just follow the address call to see if there is a company in the building..i got caught with assets and the wiring company was called cantor financial international...when I ask them about there address and what floor you on I didn't get a call back
richatd h
October 17, 2017
Anyone heard of internationalsalesgroupny?
MadinMissouri
November 09, 2017

In reply to by richatd h

Yes; I have been contacted by a John McCarthy at International Sales Group NY and offered about twice what we paid for our time share. Now they are asking for almost $5000 up front to buy the Mexican Tax ID number needed for the escrow account to fund. I have not sent any money and think this is a scam. BEWARE!!!
ISG scam
November 11, 2017

In reply to by richatd h

Their parent company is ISG out of Florida. Their office in NY is a virtual one. Appear to be NY licensed brokers but are a scam.
Okeith
October 18, 2017
Add Worldwide Property Group out of Orlando Florida to the list. Scam artist.
nearly duped
October 19, 2017
Watch out for the name: Stuart L Finz, also from Gold Coast Real Estate, Inc. 1007 Amsterdam Ave, New York,NY 10025; ph # 1-800-982-1368, ext 610. Story is an echo of those already posted. Thanks for everything you have all posted!
Murphy
October 24, 2017

In reply to by nearly duped

We are getting a lot of calls from Thomas E Soja same company, same address. He told us to check him out on eAccessNY.com - they are licensed... for what that is worth. Thanks for the heads up.
toogoodtobetrue
October 20, 2017
We too was contacted by Escape with Travels. We did send our contact for them to view. We signed their proposal for $54,000. Today we received a call notifying me of an email from an attorney helping me through this process. Attorney's name is Marie Sherman located in WY welcoming me as a customer. That's when I became suspicious. I just sent an email to my timeshare notifying them not to accept any documentation from Escape with Travels or any other company. My only concern is that they do not forge our signatures and put on any other documents!
Steve
November 10, 2017

In reply to by toogoodtobetrue

Hi, I too am in a contract with timeshare reseller called Best Travel Deals for my timeshare in Cabo... We signed their proposal for $100,000 and then got a welcome email from a law office called D. Marie Sherman. We signed there contract last week and now they say they have received funds from the "buyer" and are contacting my timeshare resort to finalize the transaction. We are not sure if this is *real* or a scam, but if it is a scam, it is a VERY GOOD SCAM! According to D. Marie Sherman's office, this transaction should be finalized next week, so I will reply again with the final results and let you know what happened... Cheers, Steve.