COURT ORDER BANS DEFENDANTS FROM TIMESHARE RESALE SERVICES

FROM:  U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

FTC Obtains Court Orders Banning Defendants From Selling Timeshare Resale Services

The defendants behind three deceptive timeshare resale operations are banned from selling timeshare property resale services under settlements resolving charges that they lured consumers into paying hefty up-front fees, falsely claiming they had prospective buyers for properties they wanted to sell.

The settlements stem from a crackdown on travel and timeshare resale fraud last year involving 28 states and law enforcement agencies in 10 other countries.

“Timeshare owners should avoid anyone who wants money up front and claims they have a buyer ready and waiting,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “If you’re thinking of selling a timeshare unit through a reseller, check them out first. Deal only with licensed real estate brokers and agents, ask for references from satisfied clients, and get everything in writing.”

Avoid scams that promise to recover money you’ve lost in a timeshare resell scam. To learn more, read Callers target timeshare owners for a second scam.

Universal Timeshare

According to the complaint filed by the FTC and Florida’s Attorney General in the Universal Timeshare case, the defendants claimed they had buyers who would pay a specified price for consumers’ timeshare properties, or that the defendants would quickly sell those timeshares, and charged consumers up to $2,200 in connection with the promised sale.  In fact, the defendants did not have buyers lined up to pay any price for consumers’ timeshares. Sheldon Lee Cohen, who resides and operates a telemarketing business in the Dominican Republic, was the mastermind and main perpetrator behind this scam.

The complaint charged the defendants with violating the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), including calling consumers with numbers listed on the National Do Not Call Registry, as well as the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the Florida Timeshare Resale Accountability Act. The court subsequently halted the defendants’ deceptive practices, froze their U.S. assets, and appointed a receiver over the two companies, and over Cohen, when doing business as Universal Timeshare Sales Associates and M.G.M. Universal Timeshares, pending litigation.

Under the court order, all of the defendants are banned from selling timeshare resale services. They also are prohibited from violating the TSR and two Florida laws, and from misrepresenting material facts about any product or service, including the total cost, any restrictions, the nature or terms of a refund or cancellation policy, and the income likely to be realized. The defaulting defendants (Cohen and his company, Vacation Communications Group LLC) are also banned from telemarketing.

The order imposes a judgment of more than $1.2 million against the settling defendants (Tammie Lynn Cline, Mark Russell Gardner, and their former telemarketing company, Gardner Cline LLC), which will be suspended based on their inability to pay. The full judgment will become due immediately if the defendants are found to have misrepresented their financial condition. The judgment for $10.2 million against the defaulting defendants is immediately due and payable upon entry of the court order.

The Commission vote approving the proposed stipulated final order was 5-0. The judgment was entered by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division, on June 16, 2014.

Resort Property Depot and Resort Solution Trust

In May 2013, the FTC alleged that Resort Property Depot Inc. and Narendra “Nick” Patel made unsolicited telemarketing calls to timeshare owners and tricked them into paying fees ranging from $300 to $3,000, and that Resort Solution Trust Inc., Lincoln Renwick II, and Anthony Talavera deceived thousands of consumers into paying advance fees ranging between $800 and $3,400. Consumers did not receive what they were promised, and they were denied refunds. The court subsequently halted the defendants’ allegedly deceptive practices, froze their assets, and put the companies into receivership pending litigation.

Under both settlement orders, in addition to the ban on selling timeshare resale services, the defendants are permanently prohibited from telemarketing, misrepresenting material facts about any product or service, collecting money from customers, selling or otherwise benefitting from consumers’ personal information, and failing to properly dispose of customer information.

The settlement order against Resort Property Depot and Patel imposes a judgment of more than $2.6 million, which will be suspended  when the defendants have paid $175,000 to the Commission and Patel has surrendered his car and certain bank and investment accounts. A default judgment was entered against Resort Solution Trust in December 2013. The settlement order announced today against Renwick and Talavera imposes a judgment of more than $6.4 million, which will be suspended when Renwick has transferred to the FTC possession of bank accounts and a car. The full judgments will become due immediately if the defendants are found to have misrepresented their financial condition.

The Commission vote approving the proposed stipulated final orders was 5-0. The orders against Resort Property Depot, and against Renwick and Talavera, were entered by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, on July 1, 2014, and June 25, 2014, respectively.

To learn more about timeshare resale fraud, read Timeshares and Vacation Plans.  To learn about scams that promise to recover money you’ve lost in a scam, read Refund and Recovery Scams.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them.

"HI I'M RACHEL" ROBOCALL CREDIT CARD RATE-REDUCTION SCAMS SHUT DOWND

FROM:  FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 
Deceptive Robocallers Permanently Shut Down In FTC Settlements

Companies Behind Credit Card Rate-Reduction Scams Will Be Banned From Telemarketing, Robocalling
The Federal Trade Commission has continued its crackdown on illegal robocallers, with two more companies agreeing to settle charges that they used prerecorded calls to trick consumers into deceptive credit card interest rate reduction scams.

Under separate proposed settlements, the defendants behind Treasure Your Success and Ambrosia Web Design will be banned from telemarketing and delivering robocalls.  They also will be permanently prohibited from advertising, marketing, promoting, or offering for sale any debt relief product or service, or assisting others in doing so.

The FTC filed the initial cases against the operators of both companies in 2012 as part of a joint-agency crackdown on companies and individuals responsible for making millions of illegal “Rachel” robocalls pitching credit card rate-reduction services.

Treasure Your Success

In its original complaint against Treasure Your Success, the FTC alleged that the defendants tricked consumers into paying up-front fees for as much as $1,593, using deceptive offers for credit card interest rate reduction services.

The complaint named two individuals, Willy Plancher and Valbona Toska, as well as their three companies, WV Universal Management, Global Financial Assist, and Leading Production.  The defendants began marketing credit card interest rate reduction services in 2010.  According to the FTC’s complaint, the defendants lured consumers by telling them they could substantially reduce their credit card interest rates, down to as low as three percent, in many instances.  After collecting the upfront fees, however, consumers typically failed to get any interest rate reduction or any savings at all.

In November 2012, at the FTC’s request, a federal court halted the scheme and froze the defendants’ assets pending further court proceedings. The FTC subsequently amended its complaint to include new defendants and additional counts.

In addition to the other provisions of the settlement, the proposed order holds the defendants liable for $2,032,626, based on the amount of consumer injury in the case. Due to the inability of the individual defendants to pay redress, the monetary judgment has been suspended. However, if the defendants misstate or fail to disclose any of their material assets, the full amount of the judgment will be immediately due and payable.

The case against Treasure Your Success was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division. Litigation continues against: HES Merchant Services Company, Business First Solutions, VoiceOnyx Corp., Hal E. Smith, Jonathon E. Warren, Ramon Sanchez-Ortega, Universal Processing Services of Wisconsin, and Derek Depuydt.

Ambrosia Web Design

According to the FTC’s complaint, the Ambrosia Web Design defendants delivered prerecorded calls that urged consumers they called to “press one” if they were interested in credit card interest rate reduction services.  Consumers who pressed one were connected to a telemarketer who promised to get them very low interest rates or, in some cases, specific amounts of interest savings.  The defendants often deceived consumers into thinking defendants were affiliated with a government program.  If consumers agreed to sign up, the telemarketer got their credit card information, often charging an illegal advance fee before providing any service, the FTC alleged.

The FTC alleged that defendants then typically failed to deliver on their promises. In addition, the FTC charged defendants with failing to disclose their purported no-refund/no cancellation policy and billing some consumers without their express authorization.  Finally, the FTC alleged defendants illegally called many phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry.

In June 2013, the FTC amended its original complaint to add charges of credit card laundering in violation of the agency’s Telemarketing Sales Rule.  According to the FTC, in many cases, the defendants laundered credit card payments by processing them for other telemarketers through the Ambrosia defendants’ own merchant accounts; and arranging for other merchants to process credit card payments for the defendants through their accounts.

In addition to the bans on outbound telemarketing and robocalling, the proposed settlement order:

Bans the defendants from using certain payment processing methods, such as remotely created checks, that are often used to conduct fraud;
Prohibits the defendants from making misrepresentations regarding any “financial products or services;” and
Prohibits the defendants from misrepresenting the efficacy of a product or service.
The proposed settlement requires the defendants to liquidate virtually all of their assets, including a valuable watch and a sports memorabilia collection.  It also includes a judgment of $8.3 million, which will be suspended if defendants comply with the terms of the settlement.

The settlement resolves the FTC’s charges against: 1) Ambrosia Web Design, LLC, also doing business as AWD; 2) Concord Financial Advisors LLC; 3) CAM Services Direct LLC; 4) AFB LLC; 5) Western GPS LLC; 6) Chris Ambrosia, individually and as a manager of Ambrosia Web Design LLC and CAM Services Direct LLC; and 6) LeRoy Castine, also known as Lee Castine, individually and as a manager of Ambrosia Web Design LLC, Concord Financial Advisors LLC, AFB LLC, and Western GPS LLC.

The case against Ambrosia Web Design was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

The Commission vote approving the proposed settlements in both actions was 4-0.

Information for Consumers

The FTC has tips for consumers, as well as two new consumer education videos explaining robocalls and describing what consumers should do when they receive one.  See ftc.gov/robocalls for more information.