Unauthorized Soliciations:
Unauthorized Solicitations and Possible Scams are now joined together to reinforce the importance of being alert. We don't want to be paranoid, but we do want to be careful.Cold calling is fine. Sales personnel have to generate leads somehow, and sometimes, the cold call is the appropriate way to reach out.
However, there is a big difference between selling legitimate products and services and trolling for naive, trusting individuals. Taking advantage of a person's naïveté for money is unconscionable.
There is a fine line between wanting, trusting, releasing personal information on blind faith and conducting a meaningful level of due diligence. Sometimes, gut reactions are alright. But other times, paying money without proper due diligence could be lost forever.
Part of the service we provide is a database of sorts. This page provides a listing of alleged companies that, through their representatives, have presented themselves as legitimate parties who want to buy your timeshare. Interesting stories...yes. But very dangerous. Do not fall into temptation.
Please send us your experiences and company names so we can post them here and in the Possible Scam pages.
Thank you for your participation. Without it, this would be a blank page!
2024-05-13 |
James wanted to share his latest experience with a scammer. The concept has been around for years. The story goes Vidanta is going public and we, as owners of Vidanta timeshare interests, should be owners of certain shares and Vidanta is hiding that fact from us. Here is what James had to say:We are longtime “Grande Luxxe” members and a couple of years ago bought a small amount of “Kingdom of the sun”. We are always looking forward to our Vacation in Mexico and have no complaints. We are constantly receiving Scam call requests to sell or rent but ignore those.Yes, we did have a great time in San Jose del Cabo. But we did not find anything out about James' scam lead. We could not find a company called Trade Center, Inc. in New York. There was no connection to the telephone number given. Bottom line: SCAM. Stay away. By the way, the idea that Vidanta is going or has ready gone public and we contract owners are deserving of shares is old news. Laughable, actually. No, there is no truth to the idea that Vidanta is going to publicly list their shares on an exchange somewhere. Vidanta is well financed with funds from the sale of timeshare contracts. There is no need for Vidanta to enter the world of publicly traded stock. Way too many headaches. Anyway, thank you James for thinking of us and our community. We are now duly warned: Don't believe the non-sense. No need to engage in a conversation about your personal interests in Vidanta with someone you don't know. Remember: Only You can help Stamp Out Scams - Don't Send Money!! |
2024-04-25 |
Scams and spammers are all over the place. They are like nasty no-see-ums. You are innocently walking along a path in shorts and a couple of hours later you start scratching! Where did you get those bites and why didn't you see them? One of the most effective methods scammers and spammers us is the warning email. Your service is about to be shut off unless you contact the sender by tapping the link in the email. DON'T TAP THE LINK! Yes, don't tap the link until you hover over the link to see where it takes you. Notice the link in the photo that appears below: The address in the link is to something called "gateway.lighthouse.storage". This domain has had 365 changes on 365 unique IP addresses over 3 years. No, that is not Networksolutions.com. Delete! The only way we all can protect ourselves against spams and scammers is to shut them out! Don't reply to anything that you don't recognize. Check email addresses and domains to confirm legitimacy. If we all do that and DON'T SEND MONEY TO PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW, we will all do our part to help stamp out scams. |
2024-02-24 |
Do you trust someone you can't find info on? You're not alone! An article in USA Today hits home. It tells the story of a dad and husband who buys a timeshare, thinking it's perfect for family vacations. It starts great but then life changes, and the timeshare sits unused. Annual costs rise, but use drops. Sound familiar? You can read the article in total by tapping this link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2024/02/22/thousands-of-americans-fall-prey-to-mexican-cartel-cjng-timeshare-scam/72695295007/ Cold-call salespeople excel at selling scams. The article details a timeshare owner trying to sell. He's contacted by a caller claiming a buyer offers more than he paid. Tempted, he skips due diligence and pays into escrow, being told that all funds paid into escrow are refundable. But more requests follow, draining him until he realizes it's a scam. He hires a lawyer, but it's too late. It's a cautionary tale of losing $1.8 million to a telemarketing scam. Aimfair Members seek our advice on deals, but red flags like young domains, fake addresses, and missing licenses scream danger. Still, they trust, lose money, and regret it. Are timeshare owners too trusting? The article hints at a pattern. Many struggle to say no to promising faces, even if they're strangers. It's a wake-up call to learn to refuse deals that seem too good to be true. Remember, only YOU can help stamp out scammers! Don't Send Money! |
2024-02-17 |
Nino received an email from a person who claimed to be an attorney with ASF (Auditoria Superior de la Federation) and shared his conversations with Aimfair. Nino is very good at identifying scams. The emailer wanted personal information. She claimed to be an official with a Mexican Federal Government agency called Auditoria Superior de la Federation that actually specializes in large scale audits. Additionally, she claimed to be an attorney, in an attempt to impress Nino with her credentials, level of authority and trust factor. Her pitch is similar to those made by other fake Mexican government officials. She claimed Nino's name is on lists of names that have been defrauded by criminal organizations. Internal audits performed by different government agencies have generated lists of "harmed" individuals. Since the information on file is incomplete, she is contacting Nino and others on the list to allow the Mexican government to take action against these organizations. To close out the audits, she asked Nino to participate by providing more information about themselves and the timeshare interests they own. You can read the email exchange between Nino and the lawyer by tapping the following link:
Nino’s response:
I sent an email to Auditoria Superior de la Federation for confirmation of the statements made by the attorney. The response confirmed the alleged lawyer is a scam. Here is an excerpt from the email I received from an ASF official: "....the exercise of the powers that were conferred on this Institution, are limited to the inspection of the Federal Public Account of the previous year, in order to verify, among other elements , financial management and the performance of the executors of federal public resources...."The alleged attorney is clearly making false and misleading statements. Bottom line - always look at the email sender's domain. Any Mexican Federal employee will not send emails from a domain ending in .com. Scam!!! Thank you Nino. We all appreciate you sharing your conversations with the scammer! |
2024-01-20 |
An offer to rent multiple weeks - up to 80 guests - came in today. It looked phishy, so I looked up the domain. Sure enough, the domain called "knirghtfrank.com" is not registered. Here is the email: Don't be pulled in by this inquiry. The email address is stellacarllee@knirghtfrank.com. How long ago do you think the domain knirghtfrank.com was formed? Based on Stella and Joe's email and the fact that we want to rent our weeks, we are going to drop our guard and respond. Guess what? The domain is for sale. knrightfrank.com domain - the same one that sent me an email - is for sale! So, why would I consider doing anything with a group that I can't confirm is real. An email is a logical way to connect. An email sent by a domain that is for sale is a scam. I would not, and neither should you. Be aware that this offer will be coming to you soon. |
2023-12-15 |
We received the following from Nino, Aimfair's #1 scam investigator. Nino has uncovered so many scams, it is amazing he and we still receive more. One would think the scammers would highlight those individuals who are onto their scheme. Here is what Nino sent us: Hi Bob,Thank you Nino. Your diligence is helping all of us. Remember - Only You can help stop scams - Don't Send Money! |
2023-10-20 |
This morning, we received an upbeat email from one of our Aimfair friends in New York who had a fantastic time in Nuevo Nayarit this past summer with a group of 12. He joyfully exclaimed, "We had a blast!" In his message, he included the following content: Greetings from New York!Upon investigating National Real Estate Investors, we uncovered the following:
In conclusion, despite an enticing website and generous offer, this is unquestionably a scam. Please refrain from pursuing this offer. Remember, only YOU can help stop scams - DON'T SEND MONEY! |
2023-10-16 |
All of us receive calls from people we don't know. Many of us don't even answer the call unless the phone number is in our contacts list. Luckily, we can also block unwanted calls too. In addition to unsolicited calls, we also receive email solicitations too. Often times, the solicitor is introducing himself and firm as a trusted party who has a buyer or renter for out timeshare interests. After many years of receiving emails and calls, a fellow Aimfair member just sent me a copy of an email he sent to a prospective scammer. It is an easy format to follow, and the comments our fellow Aimfair member made were courteous, respectful and to the point. It makes sense to copy and paste his email and use it as a template to flush out legitimate and illegitimate contacts. Here is the solicitor's email and our Aimfair member's response: Response: Hi William,If everyone started their relationship with an individual who cold calls about a timeshare interest, the chances are very likely victimization would decline enormously. Don't you agree? Next time, take the time to check the age of the domain at Who is domain tools. Check the contact address of the caller's website address. Call the manager of the office or the building to confirm the company pays rent at the given address. Finally, request everything in writing by email. You could also tell the caller you will send an overnight parcel with a question or two to the address given. Chances are the parcel won't be delivered. Thank you Nino! Let's all work to eliminate scams and loss of $$$$$ by following good practices when responding to a cold inquiry by email or telephone. |
2023-08-21 |
Wow! We must be high on everyone’s list. We just received an important notice from Vidamembers.com.mx reminding us that we have Bonus Weeks we have not used. Here is the notice:
Here is what we found:
There may be other reasons behind these groups sending similar offers from domains that look like Vidanta. They could range from both sides of the pendulum - from active scams to implicating Vidanta with scams. We don’t know. What we do know is we do not want to send money to anyone we don’t know. That is the only way we can stamp out scams!! |
2023-08-06 |
Yes, that’s right. An Aimfair member contacted us a few days ago asking about the “guarantees" offered by SAT and HACIENDA - two agencies of the Mexican government. Based on these guarantees, he was ready to send $65,000 US to a real estate broker in St. Louis. Luckily, he reached out to us first! The SAT is composed of a Governing Board, which constitutes its primary decision-making body; the eleven general administrations and units which make up the bureau; and a Chief of the Tax Administration Service, who is appointed and removed by the President with the approval of the Senate. The Chief of the SAT is the primary link between the bureau and the rest of the departments and bureaus which make up the executive branch of the Mexican federal government, as well as all other government entities at the state and local levels, private and social sector actors. According to Wikipedia, The Governing Board of the SAT is made up of the following individuals:
No where in the description of responsibilities does it say SAT will guarantee payment of prepaid taxes when paid in connection with the sale of a contract of any sort. Although the document looks very official, it is not! Do not fall for the concept that an agency of the Mexican government will guarantee the return of prepayments made by a trusting contract owner in connection with the sale of a contract. Remember!! Only YOU can help stamp out scams - Don’t Send Money!! |