Original Message:
Meritage is Not Alone in These Scams (by Scott H.):
I also received sales offers from a "Murphy and Cohen Real Estate and Equity Group" in New York City. Their "partner" escrow company is "Atlanta United Title and Escrow Services" in Atlanta. The scam here involved sending a wire transfer of nearly $6,000 to a bank in Mexico! The bank is right near my timeshare resort (Sheraton Buganvilias in Puerto Vallarta) which leads me to believe there may be employees or management of my resort involved in this.
The "wire transfer instructions" listed Chase Bank in New York City as an "Intermediary Bank," and so I went to a Chase branch in San Diego. I worked with a very sharp bank officer who used Google Earth to see the addresses given and the buildings. Neither showed such an operation. One had a Bail Bonds (big tipoff!) office next door, so he called them (number posted in photo). He also looked at a list of qualified realtors and escrow companies and again, these crooks were not listed. Also no Better Business Bureau membership (same as Meritage). It is very hard to resist these calls because they offer such lucrative prices. But do your homework carefully!
I will double-check this, but I like the comment above that states the 801 area code is not even in Salt Lake City!
I believe operations such as these should be reported to Federal law enforcement since they are doing their scam across state lines and, in the case of my experience, internationally.