Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Information and questions about the Law in Spain and Andalucia.
User avatar
Devils Advocate
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5597
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:38 pm
Location: Sierra Tejeda and England

Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby Devils Advocate » Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:48 am

OH, had a strange one at work yesterday she's just been telling me. One of her partners introduced her to an elderly lady who had come in to see him with regards to a property in Spain.
The chap obviously involved OH as she has property in Spain and for a second opinion and a bit of advice.

Anyway to cut to the chase, the lady bought what is called a "Holiday club" :think: share, some 5 years back for 10000 pounds. The old dears husband has since become quite ill and as such they have not used it in the last 3 years...............the lady has said she was just prepared to write the money off, end of story.

Low and behold a letter arrives last week to her saying a "buyer has been found for your share"...........wait for it, for 25000E!, proviso being she sends 2,500e to the guy who sent the letter.

OH's partner (also an experienced lawyer) obviously calls the chap and guy is very plausible. Reason for the 2,500e needing to be sent he says is that it is handed to Notary as is the 25k whilst "cooling off" period of 14 days takes place...........ie if buyer pulls out Old dear gets 5k back and if old dear pulls out buyer gets the 2500.

How it stands at the moment is that OH is wary as it seems to good to be true in this climate, she feels it's just too much of a win/win for the client.

Complete details are still sketchy for me to relay as we only spoke about this for a few minutes this morning...I can get more details later.

I don't obviously want to post names etc. just yet but is this something anyone here has ever heard of?........any info. would be a fantastic help as OH is going to have to speak with our own legal advisor over there if it is to procceed. She obviously does not want to run up costs for the lady if it's a total non starter, i.e. a scam but at the same time does not want to jeapardise a sale.

Sorry for long winded post but I promised I'd run this by the experienced guys on here in case some info. is gleaned.
Many thanks,
DA
Property owner in Andalucia since 2002. How time flies.

julian
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5976
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2004 8:38 pm
Location: marbella

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby julian » Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:54 am

100% scam, denounce it now.

User avatar
Devils Advocate
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5597
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:38 pm
Location: Sierra Tejeda and England

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby Devils Advocate » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:03 am

Thanks Julian. Seriously have you heard of this before? Is there any link to this being exposed or any firms named in news articles etc.

State of play at the moment is that the lady will not be charged for her initial meetings yesterday and obviously OH does not want her to be in the future........if it's a no hoper.

I've suggested the other partner calls the chap who sent the letter again(letter from Spain by the way) and asks which Notary office this transaction is to take place. I'd have thought the Notary office could confirm or deny the authenticity of this.............maybe I'm way off there :think:

I too think it sounds dodgy and the old addage of "if it seems to good to be true" springs to mind, OH certainly does..........but there are somtimes exceptions to the rule I suppose.
Property owner in Andalucia since 2002. How time flies.

User avatar
princess peach
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 3961
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2007 11:17 am
Location: Chester,UK

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby princess peach » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:14 am

Just a thought DA~does the old lady know anyone else who is involved with the same company regarding the
Holiday Club" share
,maybe someone they met and exchanged numbers with who put money in at the same time as they did?

I dont think it sounds at all legit,i havent heard of any such scams,but they are bringing out new ones all the time.
If i was the lady,i would write and say i dont want to sell regardless.She cant be doing with such hassles anyway if her hubby is poorly.
Bless her.xxxx

Jool
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 4915
Joined: Fri May 18, 2007 5:56 am
Location: Coastal Almeria

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby Jool » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:23 am

Its a definite scam it was on Watchdog on BBC......and been in various newspapers as well have you googled for references?

http://www.safefromscams.co.uk/HolidayClubScam.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1957890.stm

and loads more

User avatar
Devils Advocate
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5597
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:38 pm
Location: Sierra Tejeda and England

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby Devils Advocate » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:30 am

princess peach wrote:Just a thought DA~does the old lady know anyone else who is involved with the same company regarding the
Holiday Club"
Sounds daft Peachy, but funnily enough I'll mention that to OH :thumbup: ..........if the lady did know anyone else in the scheme I wonder if they've had an "offer" too...thanks.

Jool, thanks for links but they all seem to be referring to the underhand way of selling this scheme.
I'd love to see a reference to this case of somebody wanting to "buy it back" for a lucrative sum.

Many thanks though.

DA
Property owner in Andalucia since 2002. How time flies.

Pauly
Andalucia.com Amigo
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2009 10:32 am

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby Pauly » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:35 am

If it's not a scam the guy should be prepared to put the lady in touch with some of his satisfied customers - most things that sound too good to be true are.

Also, if it's not a scam and the holiday club share is really worth what he's offering it can't be a one- off opportunity - there'll be other people in the market
dos cervezas por favor

Jool
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 4915
Joined: Fri May 18, 2007 5:56 am
Location: Coastal Almeria

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby Jool » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:39 am

Watchdog was specifically about buying them back, you pay the fee and then there is no buyer........it is well known as the latest scam took over from timeshare and when demand to buy into holiday clubs waned............

Don´t waste any more time on it, honestly.

Beachcomber
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 11081
Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2004 11:11 pm
Location: Guadalhorce Valley

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby Beachcomber » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:40 am

I have known of several attempts at this scam. One was a friend of a friend who went ahead regardless of advice not to and lost €3.000.

That particular one was based in Mijas with a Mijas apartado de correos and the name of a lawyer with an address in Mijas. The lawyer doesn't exist, the address is that of a totally unconnected business and the apartado belonged to someone with a false name. One of the give-aways was a telephone number on the latter which was spaced in such a way as to attempt to disguise the fact that it was a UK mobile.

There was another one based in Benalmádena who actually had an office and everything seemed fine until it got to the point where they wanted €2.000 up front.
Let's go Brandon!

User avatar
Devils Advocate
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5597
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:38 pm
Location: Sierra Tejeda and England

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby Devils Advocate » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:10 am

Jool, Pauly I agree with your thoughts even more now.

Beachy, have sent you a pm :thumbup:

Thanks again.
Property owner in Andalucia since 2002. How time flies.

julian
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5976
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2004 8:38 pm
Location: marbella

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby julian » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:38 am

if you denounce it now the police may be able to find the people behind it by reeling them in.

User avatar
chrissiehope
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 3668
Joined: Sun May 07, 2006 7:52 pm
Location: Cheshire & near Antequera

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby chrissiehope » Wed Jan 20, 2010 2:51 pm

just to add my five penn'orth :wink:

Holiday Clubs sprang up when Timeshare was tightened up - the scammers are always looking for new ways to part people from their money. A similar scam regularly goes the rounds with Timeshare -" we've got a buyer" (who will pay stupid money) - "you just need to pay us the 'admin fee' (or whatever) of £500/ £2000/ etc so we can process the transaction". I even had one caller who claimed to have the buyer in the room with them, and desperate to pay £10000 (for something that's really only worth the paper it's written on ) - they got quite shirty when I said I'd have to discuss it with my husband (who was genuinely out of the house) :roll: . Our standard answer is " deduct the fee from the proceeds" - funnily enough, for some strange reason, this is never possible...... :lol:
Alexandr for President (Squire for PM !)

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read (Groucho Marx)

Laslomas
Resident
Posts: 773
Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2005 3:53 pm
Location: frigiliana no more :(

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby Laslomas » Wed Jan 20, 2010 3:37 pm

If this was a property that was being transferred it would be the buyer that has to pay some kind of deposit (10% ) not the seller!!! Totally a scam.

User avatar
Mowser
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 6388
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2007 10:42 am
Location: Torre del Mar

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby Mowser » Fri Jan 22, 2010 8:28 pm

A fool and his money are soon parted.
Dave

User avatar
DavidSearl
Andalucia.com Amigo
Posts: 191
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:47 pm
Location: Mijas

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby DavidSearl » Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:58 am

FROM DAVID SEARL

FOR DEVILS ADVOCATE


Yes, this is a scam. It is hard to believe that people are still falling for this after all the publicity given to it in both English and Spanish. If you want the lurid details, simply Google "Timeshare Resale Scam" and you will get them.

And, yes, they recently caught up with and charged a gang of these scammers in Malaga. Spanish papers gave it full coverage.

Please don't throw your money away.

Best Regards, David Searl
You and the Law in Spain

User avatar
Devils Advocate
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5597
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:38 pm
Location: Sierra Tejeda and England

Re: Is this a scam, anybody heard similar?.Input appreciated.

Postby Devils Advocate » Mon Jan 25, 2010 12:37 pm

Thanks David. The lady in the end was told in no uncertain terms that it is highly likely this was indeed a scam and that my OH's firm did not feel it worth pursuing.

Apparantly lady was not 100% convinced, and as I type is probably in another lawyers office for a freebie or at the CAB :think:

Many thanks for you input though, it rubber stamps what other forum members also kindly confirmed.
Property owner in Andalucia since 2002. How time flies.


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests