Timeshare Resale Alleged Conmen Closer to the Dock

October 9th, 2010

THE FACUA (Spanish Consumers Association) recently issued an official statement warning there was still little Government control over how timeshare in Spain was being sold, in spite of the existence of a law to the effect.

I don’t perceive, however, that FACUA’s concerns are well-aimed, considering that they skipped over timeshare resale scams, recovery room scams (anyone who has been conned in Spain will receive a cold-call from these guys), land banking frauds, etc.

And just when we thought that impunity and immunity was the norm when it came to Costa del Sol white-collar crime, the Court of First Instance 2 has formally transferred the Timeshare Resale Scam case proceedings to the Malaga Provincial Audience, for public hearing, trial and sentencing. The 12 named individuals are accused, separately, of:

Criminal swindle against a generality of people, thereby being classed as of special graveness.
Association to commit offenses (conspiracy to defraud).
Possession of illegal firearms.

Our firm represents approximately 160 clients that, many years back (9), paid an upfront fee to the above individuals to have their timeshare sold, who claimed, among other lies, via a telephone cold-calls, that buyers were waiting with a check in hand to buy their timeshare week(s).

The Malaga Fraud Squad, and my contact within it at the time, Juan Fernandez, tackled the matter with excellence and professionalism and managed to impound cars (can we only imagine their current state and value!), material (computers etc.) but more importantly, approximately €150K in several bank accounts. This sum is meagre compared to the tens of millions scammed but it’s better than a kick in the ass!

The big kick however could be reserved to the perpetrators if we add the years the Spanish Criminal Code imposes to people found guilty of those crimes:

Swindle (as above): Up to 6 years
Conspiracy: Up to 4 years
Illegal firearms: Up to 3 years

What is more surprising is that some of the names on the attached document were arrested again in 2006 on identical charges, and will, obviously, face the same charges again, as per this Times Online article.

This article mentions that:

The fraudsters even used false documents to offer to undertake legal action against other fraudulent companies they also ran, defrauding many victims twice in the process.
Some victims are believed to have been stung twice after turning to companies set up by the alleged fraudsters to offer legal help to the victims of other firms they were behind.

This exactly now seems to be all the rage in the boiler room industry and we can mention, inter alia, given that the modus operandi is exactly the same, Ramirez & Ramirez (formerly Legal Specialists Advisory Service SL), Legal Advice Counsel (defunct), First Legal Services (defunct), European Mediation (defunct) as well as many others, and as of late, a few Nigerian scammers who have found a niche too.

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