October 2, 2013

In the last four days, we have received scam warnings from American Airlines through ETurbo Global Travel Industry News http://www.eturbonews.com/print/38475, Grupo Vidanta Beware of Unsolicited Communication and two Aimfair members, each about different companies. In the cases of American Airlines and Grupo Vidanta, the scammers leave the impression that they are authorized to discuss transactions with their customers. Not true!! In the cases of the two other companies, they offer to buy weeks or contracts at very high prices. Not true!

The two companies making offers to buy weeks or contracts are called:

• I Realty Connect (Referred to us on September 30, 2013) - Fax: (512) 298-4159 - Located in Del Rio, Texas, not Austin, Texas. The stated website of www.irealtyconnect.com does not exist and the domain is for sale. Seems this company is gone for now.
• My Space Vacation (Referred to us on September 27, 2013) - Fax: (773) 451-8681 - Located in Chicago, IL. According to a reverse search of email address owners, a person called Ann Burdett is listed as the owner of this and three other email addresses associated with companies that are questionable.

The Advance Fee Fraud is easy to fall for. Why? Because we are all trusting soles. We want to take advantage of easy money. Everyone is tempted by easy money. Many of us are unable to make full use of the weeks we own because of changes in our health, family situations, interests by other family members, discouraged for any number of reasons, etc., etc. We want out! The money sounds great! We realize there are people out there who might take advantage of us, but the people who contact us are so convincing that they could not be one of THOSE people.

There is a science to their tactics, verified by research funded by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) (http://www.bbb.org/scam-stopper/the-science-of-scams.php). The research found that scammers use many techniques to increase credibility and emotion to encourage making quick decisions.

These individuals are very well connected with each other. If you turn one person down and leave the door open, then another person will contact you to make you and offer. If you turn down an offer and suggest you would consider something more, they will come back with the higher offer. Their only objective is to receive a commission on money their victims send in. It's all about what we send in, not what they will pay us.

What can we do to stop this epidemic? Send us your experiences so we can publish them. Use common sense. Suggest that you send a note with a number in the note to the company address via courier. Have the recipient call you with the number. Make sure you do not have to pay any fees except from the proceeds of the sale. Never fax documents; always send them by courier. Conduct your own due diligence by contacting the Better Business Bureau and use this website to learn about the person calling you: yougetsignal.com/tools/reverse-email-lookup

Remember....if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is...