18.000.000€ fraud

[silver]

Just caught the tale end of news report regarding Re-sale timeshare fraud Fuengirola... anyone heard the news??

[Lavanda]

Just read about it in an e-mail sent to me.

Very involved, long-standing fraud operation that goes back to 2000. Original eight crooks came to the CDS area from Teneriffe. They originally fronted legal, proper companies but gradually slid to the background while employing new people to front the increasingly bent operations.

They sold non-existant time shares over and over again. They also cold called Brits in the UK and 'bought' time share slots(?) and got the Brits to send money to offshore accounts to cover 'expenses, legal fees, etc'. Brits seem to have been the main focus for that scam.

There's a third main thing that I can't remember. I would post the whole report but it's pre-publication over here so I can't do that until tomorrow. (Don't ask). The crooks involved include a Norwegian, a Belgium, an African, and some Brits. A real international operation.

[Beachcomber]

I didn't hear the news item but the other scam was that a company was contacting timeshare owners in the UK saying that they had a client who wanted to buy their timeshare but that they (the current owner) needed to transfer about seven hundred pounds sterling to a supplied bank account number to cover the costs of the transaction.

This was sent on proper headed notepaper but the give-away was that the contact telephone numbers were English mobiles and the name of the Mijas lawyer said to be the in-house legal representation of the company proved to be fake.

There was a 'Tonight with Trevor MacDonald' programme on ITV a few weeks ago about some unsavoury events in Tenerife and one of the people 'featured' using the name of Roy Buck was behind the Fuengirola/Mijas scam.

[Nige]

The latest arrests have not yet hit the 'boards' of the approproately named CRIMESHARES site which is packed with frauds, swindlers, con artists and lousy good for nothing pond file.
This is the Costa del Sol page !

http://www.crimeshare.net/36.html

I read that this latest round up was code named by police as "Trafalgar". South Africans, British, Belgium and Norwegian I see arrested.

[Lavanda]

Don't think that name was mentioned but there were four Brits arrested. Also the sum involved was supposed to be more than 12 million pounds and the number of victims is thought to be up to 15,000. The crooks operated through 300 companies thought to have employed 1,000 people. Certainly, though, what Beachcomber has added is right according to what we know here.

[El Cid]

More details here http://tinyurl.com/kbnwx

Sid

[Lavanda]

Yup! That's about what we know here as well. Interesting that the crooks seemed to target Brits especially. Are we more simple or just more trusting?

[jules 2]

Simple and trusting is puting it very politely!

Had a conversation with a friend who has just returned from a weeks holiday in Calahonda. She and her friend were approached by an english woman on the beach. Apparently she had a 'week' to sell in an apartment she shared with a group of people.
Quote ' she was a lovely woman, very genuine and friendly, she even took us to see the apartment and assured us that all the owners new each other and got along very well together etc etc ' .... The 'week' she was selling was up for grabs at £20,000. Bargain!

What's that saying about Brits leaving their brains at the airport........

[katy]

The touts are still around fuengirola with the scratchcards and the people are STILL falling for the spiel. Takes place in full view of the police too. The touts look so trashy i'm amazed anyone actually stops.

[costakid]

this has been going on for years. Whats the saying....... if its to good to be true it usually is.

When will poeple learn.