Timeshare Scam!! Anyone of you in it too?

[Firefox]

Next time you get a call, try this:

"So I won xxx price?"

"How much did you say it is worth?"

"Did you say I have to attend a 2 hour seminar?"

"Since I've won the prize, can you have a courier send it down to my office at ...."

"I'm sorry but I'll forgo the prize as it's not worth it. I make $800/ hr. If I take 2 hours to come down, I'll be losing $1.6k to get your prize worth $xxx. If you're truely interested in having me come down, how about you send me a cash cheque for $1.6K and I'll take 2 hours to come down to your seminar?"

 

[Ah_Seng]

This timeshare scam has been around in Singapore for so long.......got hit by them the first time almost 10 years ago. Having learned abt MLM then, I was pretty curious abt this new scam then and attended their talk.Their tatics are pretty similiar to MLMs, and that is to brain-washed you using time and the lure of easy money earned / saved.They always have seniors who come in should the conning becomes difficult.Very interesting to observe how they work,if you are very free of course.Last week in Orchard outside the Singtel shop, got hit again. Some things never changed......

I watched with amusement as I played along with the teenagers, who displayed such fine acting skills that I couldn't help it but clapped my hands after their speech. Damn good ! :thumbsup: They were shocked !!! :bigeyes:

Timeshare scam and the MLM scams are the top two most prevalent scams around in Singapore. There are also many scams overseas, but I guess we need to remind ourselves that "There is no free lunch in this world...."

 

[jamestan]

Hi siron, so sorry for the mess you are in.

Just to share one experience with ERI. Same tactic used, me and my wife (then girlfriend) was invited to their "office". Was in this one-hour talk for about 3 hours. At that time, I wanted to sign already, but just started to work, and planning for wedding and thus, no spare $$. Manager even promised to "loan" the deposit of 1k to me, providing I return within 3 months and paid him.

At that time, something in my mind said NO! and politely excused myself. He was rather insistent though, and I told him, offer or not, I am not getting it then. That was 1994. PRomised the manager that I'll call him within the next couple of months and I DID call him couple of months later. Guess what? The "office" ceased to exist, and so did the manager!!! Both numbers returned a dead tone...

Told myself, heng ah... never commit then...

As with MLM, I have lost a good friend simply because I agreed to meet him and did not sign up with him. Guess with the timeshare thing, it had made me very wary about such things.

Recently, someone claiming to be with the Insurance Dept of a certain high profile bank called me and tried to sell me insurance, saying that the minute I hang up the deal would be off. Again, I said no. Called the bank in question and to my surprise, there WAS an Insurance Dept but there was no such person working for it.

Morale of my experiences: Be VERY cautious with such phone calls. As there was an article in the papers recently,

"What's a dead African got to do with me?" (TNP, 15 April 2005)The story is very apt for today's society.

 

[siron]

Hi siron, so sorry for the mess you are in.

Just to share one experience with ERI. Same tactic used, me and my wife (then girlfriend) was invited to their "office". Was in this one-hour talk for about 3 hours. At that time, I wanted to sign already, but just started to work, and planning for wedding and thus, no spare $$. Manager even promised to "loan" the deposit of 1k to me, providing I return within 3 months and paid him.

At that time, something in my mind said NO! and politely excused myself. He was rather insistent though, and I told him, offer or not, I am not getting it then. That was 1994. PRomised the manager that I'll call him within the next couple of months and I DID call him couple of months later. Guess what? The "office" ceased to exist, and so did the manager!!! Both numbers returned a dead tone...

Told myself, heng ah... never commit then...

As with MLM, I have lost a good friend simply because I agreed to meet him and did not sign up with him. Guess with the timeshare thing, it had made me very wary about such things.

Recently, someone claiming to be with the Insurance Dept of a certain high profile bank called me and tried to sell me insurance, saying that the minute I hang up the deal would be off. Again, I said no. Called the bank in question and to my surprise, there WAS an Insurance Dept but there was no such person working for it.

Morale of my experiences: Be VERY cautious with such phone calls. As there was an article in the papers recently,

"What's a dead African got to do with me?" (TNP, 15 April 2005)The story is very apt for today's society.

you were very lucky and smart not to fall into this scam.... poor me. Till now still living in a nightmare that anytime this will surface! But i am firm...Will not want to pay anymore single cents to this crappy company!

These people deserved to be punished!! serverly!!

 

[judeseah]

Hmm, this free film thing sounds familiar. More than a year back, a chap called me up saying I won 7 or 12 rolls of Konica film and ask me to go down to collect and listen to their talk. But since I don't use Konica film and I am blatantly against all these "listen to us and you get your freebie" thingies, I rejected it outright.

Be careful of lucky draws too. One of such telemarketers tried to convince me that I'd won through a lucky draw I've participated a year before the call..... (nice try).

Regards
CK

OT,
anyone saw the free film ad by a lab near Taka?

free film,
IF u bring one roll for dev n print,
and the cost?
almost double of what others charge.
free indeed!

tmeshare-
anyway, my mom n sis got pressured into signing the dotted line,
i stop the payment and dare them to sue us
while threatening to counter sue
them with the sales under duress thingy that my lawyer suggested.

 

[denniskee]

think it would be fun if we attend the talk, told them we would be recording it as our hearing is not very good (must act lar, put on a hearing aid). would love to see their reaction.

 

[LENS]

Hello, an old thread, how is Siron?
Ppl get alert of this scam, i have encountered it again yesterday at Orchard, good i didn't fall for it!

 

[siron]

Hello, an old thread, how is Siron?
Ppl get alert of this scam, i have encountered it again yesterday at Orchard, good i didn't fall for it!

Hello... Well, usual. same old me.

 

[swampthing]

Yeah it's still ongoing, and on and on and on. Folks be warned.

 

[user12343]

so they never chase outstanding payments from you?

i also have encountered exactly the same thing as u did, only they promised me 12 rolls of film and a free cruise ticket. :bsmilie:

tat time i also bodoh bodoh go attend their presentation. gosh, they told me to switch off my handphone to avoid interruption of their promotion. it's ridiculous that no one ever imposes switching off of HPs during any meeting, besides medical institutions, they are the only ones to impose that

it's a face-to-face with some pretty dolled-up executives asking me all sorts of questions, what is my salary, how often do i go travelling, how much i spent last trip, yada yada yada....punching in numbers with a calculator as i bullshit some figures to her...

then she started promoting her company, how i can enjoy a huge network of clubs and resorts around the world and yet only pay a ridiculously small sum to enjoy....

my HP (set to silent mode) then rang and i answered. she scolded me for not turning off the HP and she told me (with a lil bit of wet-eyed) she could be sacked for not enforcing this rule.....kekekeke

fine, so she carried on yakking away, and presented me with a sum i need to pay using credit card, a friggin' big sum. in no way am i swayed into signing any contractual agreement. and she gave up and asked her boss to come. he talked to me and asked if i wanna sign the contract or not. i looked at him and gave him a stupid look and said "NO". wa, that really pissed him off and he showed me the way out.

in the end, i din get the film but gotten the cruise ticket which shortly was dumped into the trashcan at the lift lobby.... :bsmilie: :bsmilie:

Hello... Well, usual. same old me.

 

[Goondu]

Hello... Well, usual. same old me.

Siron,

It's been a long time. Good to hear from you...

 

[smallaperture]

This thing has been going on for many years and I've always wondered how come people still fall for it. Apparantly, the news somehow didn't spread. So, everyone, pls tell your family/friends abt this and avoid this.
I also received a couple of calls telling me I've won this lucky draw and that, and made appt to go down for the collection... but I always fly their kite...

siron, hope you managed to resolve this...

Timeshare scam, Nigerian scam, China BigPrize scam..... and even magic stone scam....

All these are fuelled by GREED. If you're not greedy, such scams do not work on you.

If this timeshare bugger still borders you, tell them to fly kite. They cannot sue you. The Evil cannot win the Good! especially in our Courts.

 

[Sausage]

There is also a so-called travel club that prowls orchard road now and insists that you pay a $3000 deposit on the spot for membership.

 

[Klose]

one agent called me up while i was in camp couple of weeks ago, quite persistent in ask me to go for some talk - all the sweet talking and such. I declined twice but the guy didnt want to hang up the call and I got mad and fired off a 1 min long #@$! and the guy said sorry and hung up after that :bsmilie:

 

[centuryegg]

Just my two cents worth....

1) Be careful of what people promise you, very frankly the more it seems so risk free, so little investment for big returns, the more likely there is something very wrong

2) For legal matters, we already know that they are scams.... Frankly dude, logically its using legal big words and letters to scare people in to action. Hence I really dont think they will really go to court with you. Why? Because I am going to be sure the case will blow sky high with all major papers reporting it. And thats when fellow victims will come out and talk and the matter will just get so big that they(the scammers) might really find themselves on the wrong side of the law. For the information, anyone can just pay a few hundred bucks to a law firm to draft a letter to another person or individual saying that we "will" take legal action. One thing about most people is that they are not law savvy and legal letters scare the **** out of them..... hence many such companies use this as a way to "force" you to comply.

3) Lastly...... No offence and sorry i offend anyone here. But PLEASE the news have been around about such things for so long. So please stay alert!! MLMs, Time Share, Emails from Africian Royalty and now the latest trend is God Fearing Widower who is dying of cancer and has a 100s of millions to give to you. All such things have been around for so long, and I have seen so many friends lose money. Even in NS, had fellow enlistees scolding me for being stupid because I didnt want to take up their "offer" of getting rich first by buying this 2000 dollars "high tech" vaccum cleaner and then promoting it. In the end who was the stupid one when all these jokers lost all their money.....

 

[vince123123]

Agreed :thumbsup:

Just my two cents worth....

For the information, anyone can just pay a few hundred bucks to a law firm to draft a letter to another person or individual saying that we "will" take legal action. One thing about most people is that they are not law savvy and legal letters scare the **** out of them..... hence many such companies use this as a way to "force" you to comply.

 

[caterham7]

think u should go down to CASE
see how they can help
more info on the consumer protection (fair trading) act below
http://www.mti.gov.sg/public/LEG/frm_LEG_Default.asp?sid=3&cid=1852
there is a 3 day cooling off period for timeshare & direct sales
if your timeshare was signed before march 2004, then the act cannot be used
then, u will need to show that there was misrepresentation

 

[idor]

My 2 cents worth.... still the same as before... you have have tmie to burn, go to their talk, eat the food, drink their drinks, harass them for the free gift they promised... they dun give use the grandmother's technique... keep harassing them... Oh yes... bring your camera... take pics of them... :bsmilie: remember to bring in a tape recorder also... after that can sell them the tapes and pics... :thumbsup:

 

[bartman]

This is a useful site for those who need help with this timeshare scam.
http://www.voy.com/161450/

 

[centuryegg]

Just being very curious, why do these presentations need your mobile phone to be switched off??