Victim Location 15563
Total money lost $55,451.96
Type of a scam Travel/Vacations
My friend was contacted in the Summer of 2019 by a guy named Chris Palmer (CP) from International Real Estate Connections LLC (IREC). He asked her if she was interested in selling her timeshare in Mexico. She wasn’t sure how he got all her personal information or the information about her timeshare, but he had all of it. CP said the buyer was offering $42,500.00 for her timeshare.
She contacted me to check things out for her. Everything seemed legit (at first). She hired me to oversee the sale and communications with everyone. CP verbally promised us there would be no out of pocket costs. My friend signed the contract and a senior broker named David Moss (DM) read over the contract with us in August of 2019. IREC brought in Diana R. Gonzales (DG) from Best American Title & Closing Services LLC in Colorado as the closing agent. We discovered recently this is also a fraudulent company involved in the scam after the contract was signed.
Then the requests for wire transfers starting coming from IREC and the closing company. The first one was to pay for a 15% transfer cost. That was $6,367.50. Next was a 25% tax lien from the Mexican government of $12,204.37. Naturally we started flipping out at this point. We were told my friend signed a contract and agreed to be reimbursed by the buyer but she needed to pay for the costs upfront. My friend didn’t have the money to pay all these things so I was the person fronting all the money.
Next was the 10% commission of $4,245.00 Then the closing cost of $3,499.00. Then came the 15% bank trust – Interest of $10,314.88. They were holding our money hostage stating all these things had to be paid until we got our money back. I finally told both companies they would have to sign a Guarantee of Payment letter because they requested a 23% excess income tax on the sale of the timeshare imposed by the Mexican government totaling $18,821.21. The Guarantee of Payment letter promised that no further requests for money would be made and the closing company and IREC would pay out $97,901.96 within 3-5 business days once the $18,821.21 was wired.
The money was wired on November 4, 2019. Then they kept saying the Mexican bank did not receive the money. Finally after being shown proof by our bank that the Mexican bank received the money on November 5th, they came up with another scam tactic. DG said the trust account was overloaded so the service provider bank couldn’t withdraw the money. IREC asked us to send another $18,821.21 !!!
The scam was discovered when the picture of the building on Google maps for the address on IREC’s website was actually blown up, which showed a for sale sign in the windows. I called the realtor listed on the sign. He said the building was vacant except for the owner that had no affiliation with IREC. He said he had been receiving a lot of calls about IREC.
To put the nail in the coffin, the building on Best American Title & Closing Services is actually an apartment building. My wife spoke to the property manager, Carol, who confirmed there was no business at that address.
Now IREC has been blowing up my phone and my friend’s phone trying to get her to sign a cancellation agreement and pay $4,000 to get our money back. After being told they’re all frauds, they’re still trying to get money from her stating she signed a legally binding contract. When I’ve told them they signed a legally binding Guarantee to Pay letter they have nothing to say in return.
Please don’t believe a word either of the above companies tell you if you have a timeshare. There are a lot of other scammers with different business names using the same tactics.
I’m filing a complaint against CP, DM and GG’s professional licenses and notifying the FTC and all other agencies of this very elaborate scam.
Victim Location 92675
Type of a scam Travel/Vacations
I was cold called by someone identifying himself as Adrian Lopez at INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATE CONNECTIONS LLC with an offer $10,836 + 3200 in maintenance fees to transfer the last 4 weeks of my Mexico timeshare to them.
While I’d be happy to sell EVERY week I have to them at a substantial profit, it seems an unreasonable offer.
I was asked to mail proof of ownership to them. When I declined, the agent asked for "just" contract number, when I declined, then "just" a member number, along with the "offer letter" with my signature.
Caller identified himself as Adrian Lopez, OK broker # 083359, with an email address of [email protected], and [email protected]
His org’s main phone number is 1-405-977-1004 or 1-405-977-1005.
While 083359 is a verifiable Oklahoma broker’s license number, I can find no other record of him doing business in OK. No independent listing on a website, and nothing but a blank LinkedIn profile.
He couldn’t provide a direct phone number and couldn’t provide a direct email address other than [email protected], or [email protected]
As mentioned, his LinkedIn profile has no verifiable info, and the IREC LLC website is full of vanilla language without solid links out or in, and with no real internet presence.
Victim Location 92040
Type of a scam Travel/Vacations
I own a timeshare in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and was contacted a gentleman by the name of Billy Giles from International Real Estate Connections LLC based out of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He stated that he had a client ready to buy my timeshare. I did not have it listed for sale and could not get out of him where he received my contact information. He has been pressuring me to send over $6,000 in transfer fees, that will be repaid to be in the total buyout price. I looked the company and his broker license number up, but cannot find anything except a possibly fictitious website.
Billy Giles – broker license # 056331
https://lic.ok.gov/PublicPortal/OREC/FindAssociateEntity_Detail.jsp?lid=&Fol…⇄
Victim Location 98407
Type of a scam Advance Fee Loan
Company called and said he had a buyer for my time share in Mexico. At first, he said there would be no up front costs paid by the seller; the buyer would pay all costs. He then said I should sent money to a bank in Mexico for "transfer fee".
Victim Location 59718
Type of a scam Travel/Vacations
Another Scammer targeting timeshare owners.
Calling up claiming to have buyers for the owners timeshare. Eventually ask timeshare owner to wire money to Mexico to cover nonexistant fees.