Buying, Renting, and Selling Timeshares

Timeshare buying scam- watch for "Albert Brown" or "Judy Boulay"

Add Katie Robertson, email katierobertson116@yahoo.com, to the list. She had contacted me a week ago using the exact information in the email. That was the mistake that made her!

Peggy K.

Another alias to add:is "Susan Silberbusch" ! Exact wording as to your Albert Email!

Lindsay C.

I HAD THE SAME SCAM INVOLVING KAPLAN AND A LADY WHO SAID SHE WAS DEAF IN BOTH EARS AND HAD TO USE A BROKER TO DO HER WORK FOR HER. CHECK SENT WAS NOT GOOD, FRAUDULENT PER BANK THAT ISSUED THE CHECK, WILL REPORT TO US POSTAL INSPECTOR FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION. THIS SCAM WAS INVOLVING SUSAN SILBERBUSCH AS THE PERPETRATOR, KAPLAN SAID HE WAS OVER SEAS AND WOULD BE HANDLING THE CLOSING FROM THERE.

Dave O.

just received similar emails to rent my condo..debra Mcdonald and sam kaplain..wish I saw this before.

Chris P.

WOW! I am not a timeshare owner, but do own a full-time vacation rental home. I received almost the identical email, but from someone calling themself "Ken Koesters". Here's the latest email:

"Many thanks for your patience.

My vacation broker is Samuel Kaplan. Considering my disability, I need him to be able to make my vacation plans easy as he will be making all the arrangements. He will book my flight tickets, arrange for airport pick-up and car rental, book the flights of my daughter and grandson from Alaska(she just beat Cancer so this is supposed to be a surprise vacation). He would also arrange restaurant visits and generally make my trip pleasant. If you have any suggestions, please pass them on to Samuel.

Because I was unable to contact Samuel to send him funds for his fees, tickets and general expenses, I visited my bank and got a certified check for $2,900 which I have also mailed out to you. Upon receipt, please deposit the check, funds should be available immediately, I would need you to deduct your security deposit to secure the dates, Then, forward the balance to Mr Samuel to cover my vacation plans whenever he gets in touch with you. It is my assumption that Samuel will provide additional instructions on how to get the fees to him. Please relay the closest airport to your vacation property to Samuel so he can use information to book flights.

Do watch out for any mails to your address and notify me as soon as you receive my check. Although I am away from home, I would still have access regularly to my email and would be in touch throughout the process.

Thanks for your understanding and sorry for the minor inconvenience. Please respond to this email so I am aware that you have received my message."

I am SO GLAD that this forum exists: I thought there was something fishy about this inquiry from the beginning as they didn't bother to ask for particular availability. I plan to not respond and wait for the "check" and then I plan to take it to the NYS Attorney General's office. I am an attorney.

So, be on the look out for "Ken Koesters!"

Patricia D.

Hello, I just received an identical email regarding a vacation condo I own. This person contacted me via my listing on HomeAway.com. I also became suspicious when I received the following email (nice job on this forum people).

The email was from the following: * Name: Jim Connelly * Address: 19 Bedford St., New York City, NY 11014 * Phone: 315-567-4365 * Email text: "Many thanks for your patience.

Just to let you know that I had to travel and will be away from home for the next 5 weeks. I do not know if I have mentioned this before but I have a disability. I was informed by the hospital which I am registered with that a new hearing aid which is supposed to be able to restore 30% of my hearing ability has just been delivered and they would like to test run it with me. This is impromptu so I had to make speedy arrangements. I tried to reach my vacation broker yesterday and today but I got an auto response that he is currently out of the country on business. I have however sent him numerous email messages along with your contact information and expect him to be in touch with you as soon as he receives my message My vacation broker is Samuel Kaplan. Considering my disability, I need him to be able to make my vacation plans easy as he will be making all the arrangements. He will book my flight tickets, arrange for airport pick-up and car rental, book the flights of my daughter and grandson from Alaska(she just beat Cancer so this is supposed to be a surprise vacation). He would also arrange restaurant visits and generally make my trip pleasant. If you have any suggestions, please pass them on to Samuel. Because I was unable to contact Samuel to send him funds for his fees, tickets and general expenses, I visited my bank and got a certified check for $2,900 which I have also mailed out to you. Upon receipt, please deposit the check, funds should be available immediately, I would need you to deduct your security deposit to secure the dates, Then, forward the balance to Mr Samuel to cover my vacation plans whenever he gets in touch with you. It is my assumption that Samuel will provide additional instructions on how to get the fees to him. Please relay the closest airport to your vacation property to Samuel so he can use information to book flights. Do watch out for any mails to your address and notify me as soon as you receive my check. Although I am away from home, I would still have access regularly to my email and would be in touch throughout the process.

Thanks for your understanding and sorry for the minor inconvenience. Please respond to this email so I am aware that you have received my message. Best regards, Jim Connelly "

I would be interested in catching this guy. I am an IT manager/computer programmer.

I have not replied to this email.

Please advise.

M V.

This is what I did: I printed out copies of all the emails. I went to the Federal Trade Commission and reported it on this page: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/Information#&panel1-1 Reporting to the FTC is what was recommended on the NYS Attorney General's website. I have NOT RESPONDED to this latest email I received. I figure I will wait and see whether or not a check arrives, which will absolutely be fraudulent. In my FTC complaint, I asked them what I should do when the check arrives. There is a number on the receipt for the FTC filing, and I will then call to follow up. Meanwhile, I will also take the check to the local Post Office to have the Postal Service investigate for mail fraud.

I think the one thing that we Homeaway vacation rental people should do is post this on a Homeaway forum: I took a brief look through there last night, and did not find one on this particular topic.

Last, I would say that I am a NY attorney (although I am not giving out legal advice here), and this is what I am doing. I will not be responding further to "Ken Koesters". You should know, that the 315 area code is in the Utica, NY area (way upstate) while they are claiming a Manhattan address.

I agree - the posters on the forum did an excellent job of bringing to light this scam.

Patricia D.

they reply as LOTS of names. They just keep making up new ones. This is not just a timeshare thing, but a very old scam that they work on many things. go to 419eater or a site like that to learn more about how to NOT be taken in

Ct T.

We were contacted by "Robert Marsh." And Samuel Kaplan works for First American. BEWARE!!!!

K C.

kc248 wrote:
We were contacted by "Robert Marsh." And Samuel Kaplan works for First American. BEWARE!!!!

First American what?

R P.

Add Dolores Bowyer <ddbowyerr12@gmail.com to the list. I just received the email about having to leave home of 6 weeks to test a hearing device and that her broker Samuel Kaplan is out of the country on business.

Kris S.

I received the same scam but it was a gentleman. They even sent a 5000$ cashiers check which I turned over to my attorney and the Feds. It's linked to a Nigerian account and nothing more came of it.

Robert P.

gloriaf50 wrote:
We have also been contacted by Investor Management Services, Mark Knight, saying that he has a buyer for our timeshare in Mexico. Today, we were contacted by Lincoln Services Group in Chicago as well. I believe that this is a scam and want to know if there's anything we can do about it. Thank you.

Rule #1... if someone calls you to rent or buy your timeshare, more than likely its a SCAM...

HANG UP, HANG UP, and HANG UP.. do not talk to them at all..

Carl N.

I got contacted the same way. Add Anne Singer to the list of names. I see everyone is saying its a scam but no one is saying how they taken or what information is at risk. Before I found this post, I responded and have received a cashier's check - but have not cash and will not now. Have not responded to "Samuel Kaplan's" email.

William G.

williamg493 wrote:
I see everyone is saying its a scam but no one is saying how they taken or what information is at risk. Before I found this post, I responded and have received a cashier's check - but have not cash and will not now. Have not responded to "Samuel Kaplan's" email.

Maybe you've missed a number of previous posts in this thread. The scam is this: The person sends the owner a check for $2900 or so but then says that he can't get a hold of his alleged broker Samuel Kaplan.

The scam person then say "To speed up the process, I will need you to forward Samuel Kaplan's commission ($2400) to him. Here is the information for the wire transfer."

The owner, who is so excited that someone wants to buy his worthless timeshare and has his rational thinking ability paralyzed,then wires the money to "Samuel Kaplan" and then subsequently finds out that the $2900 check that the scam person sent was fake.

Lance C.

they almost got me, if it was not for the wire transfer being flagged by Western Union. After speaking to "Mr Kaplan" and hearing how adamant he was about getting the wire transfer to go through, I finally told him that I would just do a bank transfer to get him to stop calling/emailing/harassing me. that gave me time to have check that was sent to me verified. Bank called the issuing bank, who then reported it was fake. I then cancelled the transaction, then sent him a nice email which was never responded to, go figure. Hopefully there will be enough people that have this tried on them and they get caught, but that will most likely not happen. The phone numbers that I had were all overseas, so I am not sure FBI, or whoever, can do anything. Sucks, but that is the world we live in, people trying to make money without working.

Owen W.

DUDE how can they almost GET YOU... Any time a scammer calls you out of the blue most times, and especially if you have listed your unit for sale with offers of more than you are seeing EVERY where else, you have to know this is a SCAM.

I hate to hear when good people loose money to these scammers, but at a certain point you (I) have to accept the fact that by and large most people are not that smart on timeshare matters. Plus they could be despite and/or greedy.

If they loose money, they loose money.. and hopefully they will learn and do more looking the next time a GOOD deal like this comes along..

The ones that get ripped off 2 or 3 times,, well they are just plain stupid.. no hope at all..

owenw8 wrote:
they almost got me, if it was not for the wire transfer being flagged by Western Union. After speaking to "Mr Kaplan" and hearing how adamant he was about getting the wire transfer to go through, I finally told him that I would just do a bank transfer to get him to stop calling/emailing/harassing me. that gave me time to have check that was sent to me verified. Bank called the issuing bank, who then reported it was fake. I then cancelled the transaction, then sent him a nice email which was never responded to, go figure. Hopefully there will be enough people that have this tried on them and they get caught, but that will most likely not happen. The phone numbers that I had were all overseas, so I am not sure FBI, or whoever, can do anything. Sucks, but that is the world we live in, people trying to make money without working.

Carl N.

They did not call me out of the blue. They answered my add on this site, and gave me an offer of a little less than I was asking, so I accepted. They did not get any money out of me, like I said.

Owen W.

Ralph Mottinger, the sales representative we dealt with at Grand Lodge at Peak 7 last week is probably the biggest liar we have ever encountered in our lives. We signed up a 2-bedroom lockout timeshare contract last Thursday and were told the maintenance fee per year is less than $600. Not until we got home and I have my husband read the documents in the CD that included in the portfolio. Surprisingly in the budget of last year's statement it shows $1,149 for 2-bedroom lockout, almost double as what we were told. Immediately we tried to call him to clarify. He did not answer the phone. Then we called the other staffs and was told $1,149 is the right amount. Fortunately based on Colorado law we have 5 days after signing the contract to cancel. We rushed drafting a cancellation letter and rushed to the post office to send it out by registered mail with return receipt as yesterday was the 5th day after we signed the contract.

We swear that we will not trust any salesperson of any timeshare anymore as there are lots of scam that were reported.

Judy M.

Hello, Has anyone heard of Premier Destination Marketing out of Scottsdale, AZ? They have provided me with documentation that they have a buyer for my timeshare in Playa del Carmen, including SAT, the Mexican taxation agency, the Bank name and routing number as well as a letter from the Mexican corporation who is the buyer stating they have deposited the funds. The catch, They want the Mexican taxes paid on the sales price directly to SAT and at the time they receive notice of payment, they will release funds on deposit at Banco del Norte by wire transfer to my bank or cashier's check in person. Any thoughts? Principle is Alec Atkinson

Thanks

Vic

Vic M.

Last edited by vicm9 on Dec 10, 2013 04:07 PM