Has anyone ever sold their timeshare to Despegar.com travel agency?

So I got contacted about 3 months ago... The offer was too good to be true.. No money all paid by Despegar... contract looked legit... The I get the MonteCristo won't sell.. They send to Profeco who has an impressive website looking out for fraud then I get the news that I have to pay the Lawyer to the Mexican Secretary of Tourism 10% of the selling price in order to get a certificate of release... of course they will reimburse me.... I also was working with Realty Direct REO then they changed their name to MB realty, Inc. out of Minneapolis... of course they feel terrible... but even sent me copies of cashier checks from Scotiabank made out to me... so show me everything is above board... then I looked at the wire instructions... nothing to do with the government... Be very careful it all sounds good but once they asked for money up front I knew the scam was on.... Unbelievable... i wish there was something I could do to shut these people down.... Agree with Nancy.... Sigh... But good news I am going to Cabo in March again...

Janet L.

These guys offered me 14k for a timeshare that has one year leftt before expiration. They are not on the up and up! trust me on this! I nearly said to myself, "What the heck! Got one mor e year. Nothin to lose," but then I thought oh yes there is! I just decided it was not worth messing with.

Steve W.

They too have asked me to send them a copy of my contract. I have blacked out any personal or private info and just left the contract details for them. I have not sent it to them yet but sense this is a scam.

Did you actually send them your contract? If so, did you get any kind of reply since doing so?

Thanks B

stevew446 wrote:
They offered me 14k for a timeshare with one year left. Somethings fishy. They said I would never have to pay them anything but I would have to mail a copy of my contract to them. I'm a little too leary at this point.

Brian P.

We are being offered $46,000 for a Presidential suite at Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach in Cabo San Lucas.

Brian P.

Anyone that believes their property is worth $ 46,000 is a prime victim for this scam. They make an offer that is " too good to be true " and if someone takes the bait then they know they have a sucker.

Don P.

brianp466 wrote:
We are being offered $46,000 for a Presidential suite at Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach in Cabo San Lucas.

Who is offering you this and how did this person know that you owned at PBS? How did this person get your contact info?

Lance C.

I promise its a scam. They offered me 14k for a Jr suite on my Pueblo Bonito Mazatlan timeshare that expires in 2017. It has to be a scam.

Steve W.

I have had the same calls and offers. Each time I talk to the gentleman I ask more questions and get pretty good answers. He assures me they take an 8% commission on the sale. I can have payment sent via certified check or bank transfer. I am welcome to open a free bank account if I dont feel comfortable giving them my main bank account info. I dont have to pay anything upfront or during the process. I find several other posts about the same offer but no one has closed a deal yet. He tells me they cant just buy direct from the resort because they are in direct competition so they have to buy private. The travel website is legit, The guy ive talked too seems knowledgeable. He assures me if I feel the deal is a scam throughout the process I can pull out at any time. My major concern is like some of the craigslist deals where they wire you money then at the last second pull the funds and then your out a ton of money because you owe the bank.

stevew446 wrote:
THey dont do that with this outfit. They say no money will come out of my pocket and they are not buying it to sell. They say they are buying it to put together vacation packages to sell on the internet. They swore they only wanted me to send them a copy of the contract and they would send me a check that I could cash and I would in turn sign a seller agreement and send that with the deed to them when it cleared. It sounded to good to be true and their vacation reviews are mixed, about 70/30 to the bad side. The guy called a few hours ago and I told him I thought it was a scam and to not call any more. I was damn tempted to see how it worked since this one timeshare expires in 2017 anyway. I hope I didnt just look a gift horse in the mouth!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aaron B.

The scammers are good at what they do. If the offer seems " too good to be true " then it's exactly that. They lure you in with an offer and once you take the bait they lead you along until they spring their trap. It could be in many forms including hacking your computer when you go to a specific site.

One rule is that if they contacted you it's a SCAM !!

Trust me they are going to get money from you if you fall for their scam.

Don P.

aaronb179 wrote:
He assures me they take an 8% commission on the sale. I can have payment sent via certified check or bank transfer. I am welcome to open a free bank account if I dont feel comfortable giving them my main bank account info.

Do you not see the contradiction here? In one sentence he is saying that they take the money out of the sale. Then in the next sentence, he is asking you for banking information and money. If what he says is true, then the buyer would pay the closing company and the closing company would give this middle-man his 8% commission and you the remaining 92%. You should not have to pay a dime.

By the way, most legitimate brokers take a minimum 15% commission or $1000, whichever is greater.

Lance C.

No he assured me that I would not have to pay. The bank account info was only for the deposit of the funds. If I didn't feel comfortable giving bank info they would just send me a certified check less the 8% commission. I would then sign the transfer over to them.

I don't want to argue the fact this could be a scam it just differentiated from the rest that I read. I want as many facts as possible.

lancec13 wrote:
aaronb179 wrote:
He assures me they take an 8% commission on the sale. I can have payment sent via certified check or bank transfer. I am welcome to open a free bank account if I dont feel comfortable giving them my main bank account info.
Do you not see the contradiction here? In one sentence he is saying that they take the money out of the sale. Then in the next sentence, he is asking you for banking information and money. If what he says is true, then the buyer would pay the closing company and the closing company would give this middle-man his 8% commission and you the remaining 92%. You should not have to pay a dime.
By the way, most legitimate brokers take a minimum 15% commission or $1000, whichever is greater.

Aaron B.

How did this person know you had a timeshare for sale? How did he contact you? Did he offer you an amount way above market value?

We have seen and heard of this scam on these boards many times. What they will do is tell you that the sale is all ready to close but you have to send some sort of a tax or fee that, although sounds legitimate, it's totally fabricated. And they will tell you that the Mexican government requires that you pay this tax before you can receive the funds.

Lance C.

AAron, be careful but let us know how it goes! So far, no report of good or bad transactions. Good luck Sir!

Steve W.

You are correct we have been through heck and back. Same racket...a very sophisticated con with several layers all seeming correct.

With us during the heat of the recession about 2011-2012 lost out on our investment after we had paid $200,000 for fractional ownership (thus owned clear) in 2004/5 entire month of May in Monte Cristo Villas #1/home based on inability to keep up $5,300 per year maint fees lost our investment trying to reinstate 2014 when climbing back after major losses during long recession.

How we got hooked with Despegar is by being contacted to say we still legally owned our interest still and PROFECO has a suit against Monte Cristo/Pueblo Bonito for those that lost out based on maintenance fees only.

We were bitter from no solution prior experiencing a loss when Monte Cristo took back and resold with zero rebate or ability to redeem (loosing 200k over 18k maint fees due)

So our focus was skewed when the thought to recoup something -

Watch out for these names: Anthony, Isidro Manarez, Sonny Mares, Javier Pardo, Martha Cronnell Barraza (Attny) with DESPEGAR - PUEBLO BONITO MEMBERSHIP SERVICES - Francisco Gonzales (fake)... Victoria Lopez-Lopez with PROFECO, Olga Gutierrez with PGR offering a bank seal letter to release wire; Luis Rodrigues with Scotia Bank, Rosa Beltran with BANAMEX ALL PART OF the "fix" AND Isabel and Julie Moore with MB REALTY Minnesota. COLLECTIVE TRUST of the Bank of New York 654 Madison Ave, NY (phoney)...intermediary wire bank...NOT! Sophie & Jason THERE.

For every question appears an answer.

Despegar uses REGUS "rent an office" front to try to look legit in Albuquerque, New Mexico

There are so many twists: SAT cap gain tax, Ayuna/Customs declarations

You want it to be real but it is not... period!

Please keep this information alive!

janetl375 wrote:
So I got contacted about 3 months ago... The offer was too good to be true.. No money all paid by Despegar... contract looked legit... The I get the MonteCristo won't sell.. They send to Profeco who has an impressive website looking out for fraud then I get the news that I have to pay the Lawyer to the Mexican Secretary of Tourism 10% of the selling price in order to get a certificate of release... of course they will reimburse me.... I also was working with Realty Direct REO then they changed their name to MB realty, Inc. out of Minneapolis... of course they feel terrible... but even sent me copies of cashier checks from Scotiabank made out to me... so show me everything is above board... then I looked at the wire instructions... nothing to do with the government... Be very careful it all sounds good but once they asked for money up front I knew the scam was on.... Unbelievable... i wish there was something I could do to shut these people down.... Agree with Nancy.... Sigh... But good news I am going to Cabo in March again...

Beverly M.

Glad you posted this Beverley!!!!!!!! You have no doubt answered many questions for all!

Steve W.

I was contacted last month. They offered me over 30K for my Pueblo Bonito Preferred Cabo timeshare. I only paid $2400 for it, no maintenance fees, etc. I called Pueblo Bonito and they are VERY AWARE of this scam. They said that you will eventually pay a tax and you will never hear from them again and never receive any money from them. Pueblo Bonito also said that they go by several different names. When something seems to good to be true, beware and do your homework.

Stacey R.

Today I asked to speak to a supervisor as Ashley was not able to answer my questions. Anthony Milano came to the phone. 800-336-0261 ext. 7705. This is a scam. I am assuming that this is the Anthony you named to beware of. Thanks for sharing your story! :)

Stacey R.

The entire very sophisticated Scam of which Monte Cristo is somewhat responsible as well. Privacy act laws have been broken as employees of Pueblo Bonito Member services it appears sold inside info for Despegar to reach us in the first place.

We were shown as Minnesota Escrow MB REALTY (hoax location, I paid to have flowers sent of which of course no one there...it was a Regal Office rental address from some time ago (Julie and another gal). We were even received calls from Despegar "Attorney" and Banks along with PREFECO (Virginia, I believe). I will post a time line with names too. We also were told we had to pay 10% tax through their government agency SAT and bank fees requested....a number of people were involved with an answer for everything.

Mexico has many crooked employees taking money on the side to help pretend they are legit. REMEMBER any email with a .com is not Mexico (lesson learned). There seems to be pursuit from "privacy violations" regarding selling our contact info to scammers.

Monte Cristo never advised for our fees owed in the past they were taking our $200,000.00 cash paid Monte Cristo Villa #1 and giving it to others...a scam method in and of itself. MORE LATER. Bev M

janetl375 wrote:
So I got contacted about 3 months ago... The offer was too good to be true.. No money all paid by Despegar... contract looked legit... The I get the MonteCristo won't sell.. They send to Profeco who has an impressive website looking out for fraud then I get the news that I have to pay the Lawyer to the Mexican Secretary of Tourism 10% of the selling price in order to get a certificate of release... of course they will reimburse me.... I also was working with Realty Direct REO then they changed their name to MB realty, Inc. out of Minneapolis... of course they feel terrible... but even sent me copies of cashier checks from Scotiabank made out to me... so show me everything is above board... then I looked at the wire instructions... nothing to do with the government... Be very careful it all sounds good but once they asked for money up front I knew the scam was on.... Unbelievable... i wish there was something I could do to shut these people down.... Agree with Nancy.... Sigh... But good news I am going to Cabo in March again...

Beverly M.

I asked that of Anthony Milano. He said a branch of the Mexican Gov. provides them this info. Same "branch" that will eventually ask you for 10% or more in tax money. Pueblo Bonito said if you pay it, you will not hear from them again or receive any money agreed upon. I sent them this email... Hmmm and no response! LOL Beware... they also go by many different names. google their address, it doesn't exist.

Hi Ashley,

I found this great article and it even mentions your supervisor, Anthony Milano. Interesting read!

You are correct we have been through heck and back. Same racket...a very sophisticated con with several layers all seeming correct. With us during the heat of the recession about 2011-2012 lost out on our investment after we had paid $200,000 for fractional ownership (thus owned clear) in 2004/5 entire month of May in Monte Cristo Villas #1/home based on inability to keep up $5,300 per year maint fees lost our investment trying to reinstate 2014 when climbing back after major losses during long recession. How we got hooked with Despegar is by being contacted to say we still legally owned our interest still and PROFECO has a suit against Monte Cristo/Pueblo Bonito for those that lost out based on maintenance fees only. We were bitter from no solution prior experiencing a loss when Monte Cristo took back and resold with zero rebate or ability to redeem (loosing 200k over 18k maint fees due) So our focus was skewed when the thought to recoup something - Watch out for these names: Anthony, Isidro Manarez, Sonny Mares, Javier Pardo, Martha Cronnell Barraza (Attny) with DESPEGAR - PUEBLO BONITO MEMBERSHIP SERVICES - Francisco Gonzales (fake)... Victoria Lopez-Lopez with PROFECO, Olga Gutierrez with PGR offering a bank seal letter to release wire; Luis Rodrigues with Scotia Bank, Rosa Beltran with BANAMEX ALL PART OF the "fix" AND Isabel and Julie Moore with MB REALTY Minnesota. COLLECTIVE TRUST of the Bank of New York 654 Madison Ave, NY (phoney)...intermediary wire bank...NOT! Sophie & Jason THERE. For every question appears an answer. Despegar uses REGUS "rent an office" front to try to look legit in Albuquerque, New Mexico There are so many twists: SAT cap gain tax, Ayuna/Customs declarations You want it to be real but it is not... period! Please keep this information alive!

Karma is a real *****… When people take from others, expect to be taken from… and that occurs in all forms. It could be the health or death of your child or loved one… It could be one of your limbs! It will catch up to you… promise. I

Ashley and Anthony, how do you sleep at night. Are you able bodied and have the ability to earn an honest living? Trust in God that there is a better way of life… He forgives. May God bless you and everyone in your organization with the understanding that stealing from innocent hard working people is a sin and you will be doomed to hell.

I will do my best to warn all time shareholders of your disgusting practices… That is also a promise. 

Stacey

Stacey R.

I just sent them this email... I cannot thank you enough for sharing your story...

Hi Ashley,

I found this great article and it even mentions your supervisor, Anthony Milano. Interesting read!

I will do my best to warn all time shareholders of your disgusting practices… That is also a promise. 

Stacey

Stacey R.