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The short version is that Executive Property Management was to sell my timeshare. After agreeing to sell and signing a contract I was then informed I needed to pay Mexican taxes for the sale and that I could either travel to Mexico for the settlement and pay then, hire an attorney to represent me at the closing or to pay the taxes to an escrow agent represented as an agent at Banorte. We've wired the funds, approximately $9k and Executive Property Management no longer answers the phone and when I attempt to call the escrow agent once I say my name or ask for the specific agent they hang up on me. The longer details and the various individuals I've dealt with are below:
On Aug. 24 I was contacted by Dale Cooper from Executive Property Management by phone asking if we (my wife and I) would be interested in selling our timeshare property in Puerto Vallarta Mexico at the Velas Vallarta resort. Dale sent over a purchase offer signed by Brian Goodwin, Purchase Director and Malcolm Lovig, Sales Manager. The offer was for $15, 840. We replied that we would be interested in selling and on Aug. 25 Dale Cooper sent us an Exclusive Sales Contract again signed by Brian Goodwin and Malcolm Lovig. We accepted the contract and filled out some paper-work and sent it back to Dale Cooper via e-mail.
On Aug. 30 we received additional information from Dale Cooper including a tax form where it was noted it had been received from the Mexican Tax office. Through a phone conversation with Malcolm Lovig we were advised that we could come to settlement and pay the taxes on settlement, hire a lawyer to represent us at settlement of to pay the taxes to an escrow agent who would pay to the Mexican Tax office and then be able to release our funds from the country. We wired $3, 009 to Mayra de los Angeles Gil Ocaranza, in c/o Servicios Profesionales De Impuestos, Paseo de la Reforma Num 390, piso 12 Mexico D.F 06600. The bank was Banorte at the location Francisco del Paso y Troncoso No. 291 Jardin Balbuena Delegacion Venustiano Carranza C.P. 15900 Mexico City. We sent the wire using the swift code MENOMXMT and account number [protected]. It was presented to us that this individual was an agent working for Banorte.
The transaction was to settle on Sep. 25 but this time came and went. We e-mailed and called Executive Property Management numerous times and were finally contacted via e-mail on Oct. 10 by Malcolm Lovig noting that they had received another tax form from the Mexican Tax Office and for me to call him. When I spoke to Malcolm Lovig he noted that the Mexican government instituted a new federal tax on the sale. We advised that we did not want to continue with the transaction as we had already borrowed the $3, 009 that we previously paid but were advised that Executive Property Management would maybe able to assist us in submitting the paperwork but that it would probably take a year our so to get through the red tape to get back our money. After not wanting to be tied up for the next year trying to get back our $3, 009 we instead borrowed and wired $3, 326 to Mayra de los Angeles Gil Ocaranza. We were advised that we would receive our money in 48 – 72 hours after we wired the funds. This time came and went but no money was received.
On Oct. 18 we received another e-mail from Malcolm Lovig noting that the Mexican Federal Government imposed an Escrow Tax of $1, 890. Again we did not want to continue with the transaction but after already borrowing and paying $6, 335 and not wanting to get stuck trying to collect the amount from a foreign governmental tax authority where we don’t read/speak the language for us to research on our own we borrowed and paid this amount again to Mayra de los Angeles Gil Ocaranza. We were again promised that we would receive our money within 72 hours. This time came and went but no money was received.
On Nov. 8 we were again contacted by e-mail by Malcolm Lovig noting that the government had imposed a state escrow fee of $949. We did not want to pay this amount but we were already into the transaction for $8, 225 and we received a phone call from Megan Ford at Executive Property Management noting that if we wired the $949 the next day it was guaranteed that we would receive our money by Nov. 11 and that if it got near the end of the day and we had not received our money to give her a call. In the afternoon of Nov. 11 we had still not received our money. I called Megan Ford and she noted that since the banks were closed due to Veteran’s day this probably was causing the delay in me being able to receive our money and to call her back on Monday the 14th if we still did not receive. In the afternoon on the 14th I called Megan Ford and she noted she needed to follow up with the sales team and would get back to me within the hour. This is the last communication I have had with Executive Property Management as all my e-mails and phone calls have gone unanswered.
I have also attempted to call Mayra de los Angeles Gil Ocaranza at [protected] to confirm whether or not the amount supposedly sitting in an escrow account to be released to me had been sent. I called twice on the 17th but after providing my name to the individual that answered the phone he hung up. I called again on the 21st with the same result. I called again on the 23rd and asked for Mayra and was hung up on before even giving my name.
This has been a nightmare that has ruined my life for the past few months. Even if we were to somehow get everything that was promised to us it would not be worth the frustration and time spent.
I posted the initial comments on this thread back in Nov. 2011. I wanted to share that I have been receiving calls from [protected] that I had not been answering. No messages were being left. After getting another call I answered and someone representing that they were representing Subprocuraduría de Servicios de Verificación an entity appointed by P.G.R. to filter and conduct investigation on all victimized foreign vacation investment owners and present them to CONDUSEF for restitution.
I only half listened when the person spoke but agreed to have them send me an e-mail. The e-mail came from clientes.usa@subprocu-verificacion-gob.mx. I googled clientes.usa@subprocu-verificacion-gob.mx and found an interesting article specifically noting this e-mail address as being involved in scams and how you can tell. Thought I'd share. The link to the article is: http://insidethegate.com/gatehouse/2014/05/mexico-timeshare-fraud-news-may-24-2014/
This is the same thing that happened to me about a month ago . So, these crooks have been at it for over three months . I refused to send the last 949 that they wanted -told them to cancel the contract and send back my "tax" money . Of course, no response was forthcoming . Of interest, the complaint for the individual who had his time share valued at 15, 800 showed exactly the same amount of taxes owing on the property as mine and mine was valued at 28, 800. Shows these crooks are just printng paper as fast as they can go . This is interstate fraud, computer fraud and international wire fraud . The authorities have been informed . Of further interst, everytime I talked with "Malcolm" his phone sounded like an unintelligiable echo chamber or it was underwater . i think he is offshore and also it may be an anti trace device .
I would like to inform the authorities of my own similar experience with these guys. Can you let me know who to call?
I have had an identical experience to those in this thread. I can hardly believe I've fallen for it. I'm curious as to what recourse we may all have. I'm into them for $8535.
Nov. 30, 2011
We were approached and had extremely similar experiences to those described above. We got uneasy after 2 tax payments totaling just over $6, 000.00 and said we were no longer interested in selling our time share in Puerta Vallarta. I spoke to many of the people using the same names as those mentioned above at EPM. I think the comment by helmuthead is correct noting that the phone calls sounded like they came from far away. On one occasion I dialed a phone number with an 818 area code and accidentally dialed one of the last 4 digits incorrectly. . .I got a mexican recording. Perhaps the calls are being forwarded. . .I am sorry to say that because the funds are now in a foreign country, any recovery seems unlikely. I am wondering if the same people who were originally selling these time shares are some of the same ones now offering to re-sell them. They seemed to have access to a lot of detailed info.
One of the commenters asked who could be called. Clearly, the actions of these individuals violates the mail and wire fraud provisions of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 1343. This is a serious federal crime and the FBI has jurisdiction over such matters. As such, I would encourage everyone to register their complaint on the FBI's website at: https://tips.fbi.gov/ Although our individual claims are small, as a group, EPM's gains are likely significant and if we all alert the FBI, they may take up the issue and run down these thieves. Again, please consider registering at: https://tips.fbi.gov/
In addition to all of this, I called today the noted Executive Property dudes and the numbers are disconnected! I am both amused and disgusted by mine and their actions. I called FBI and registered complaint with them. I also talked to a local police officer, we live in Illinois, and he suggested to notify States Department, since this is an international crime. I do strongly encourage EVERYONE who was scammed to notify the authorities. The more complain, the more likely the case would be opened.
It also seems like the address in Los Angeles no longer exists, I think they sold the unit.
Please, do not let this go and have them slide!
Respectfully, Irina
Yes, another SUCKER here. Virtually the same story as most of you. We were take for $9055 and coming from Canada that is more from our pockets. Just realized the scam, what a nice Christmas gift. I hope these people BURN IN HELL. I have submitted my complaint to the FBI and will be mailing all the info to the LA County Attorneys Office... suggest you all do the same. If we all get together on this like others had requested, just maybe the authorities will take enough notice & follow up. Even if we knew these people were caught & prosecuted it would be some closure for my wife and I. The money is gone, we have to accept that... hard way to learn there are really these type of people out there.
I have given the names and contacts of the references I received (and followed through on) and were taken by these people too. The names are, JASON FALKNER [protected] Portland, Oregon, Cynthia Bowman Phone # [protected] and Tony Wagner Phone # [protected] for what this is worth. I hope they ROT IN HELL too.
Please if anyone has more news that will aid us in our situation please pass it on through this web site. Maybe there is a way we all could communicate with some form of confidence (?) as this site seems the only way of connecting with you all at the moment.
Mike from BC CANADA
Interesting comments from Mike in BC. I was given two of the same references and they sure sounded authentic when they told me they were worried too but eventually got paid out. Mike, what address are you using for the LA County Attorney's Office? Did you actually speak to someone there and are they willing to help?
To Sanford, Irina, Helmuthead, SleepingDragon & Sesheldo
Unfortunately my reply to (you) Sanford failed to make it to this site. Not sure what happened there though a little frustrating.
I did not speak with anyone there yet though have almost completed my complaints documentation and will be posting it to them in the coming days.
I’ve had a follow up reply from my contact within the Secret Service and now ask if any of you would be willing to further this matter with this agency as he has advised me that they can not proceed as I used a Canadian Financial Institution to transfer my monies. (Please see details from his letter below). He did advise me to contact a Canadian authority, which of course I will do.
I have emailed him asking if he could further the investigation by means of working with a US citizen who transferred monies via a US financial institution. If you are comfortable with providing the details of your situation with the agent please feel free to contact me so I can pass his contact information onto you if replies in the positive.
Please contact me at mikeinwhistler@shaw.ca
Mike Rogerson
“The fact that you wire transferred your money from a Canadian financial institution, albeit with email correspondences presumably in the USA, into a Mexican financial institution indicates the absence of an effect on any US financial institution, obligation of the US government, or federal interest thereof.
Due to this, the U.S. Secret Service does not have primary jurisdiction to investigate the facts you have presented.”
Unbelievable. We have gone through the exact same process as above, although through Luxury Resort Services from Portland Oregon. We paid the original 12% Mexican State Tax, and are now being asked to pay an Escrow Fee. At one time we received a "forged" letter from Banorte, signed by the Branch Manager, Luis Antonio Zambrano Chavez. I decided to try and contact the Branch Manager, and received a phone number from our supposed Escrow Agent. Amazingly, the number provided matches exactly with the number above to "Mayra de los Angeles Gil Ocaranza at [protected]". What an unreal scam. Same person using different names. He assured me of the escrow account, had all the proper information to match up with our records. I was ready to wire the Escrow fee until reading these postings. Upon further research, the address provided by Luxury Resort Services is a hot dog stand on Google Earth & their website no longer exists. The references we were given includes Cynthia Bowman from California, Tony Wagner from Houston, Michael Brooks from Idaho, which has an answering machine for Executive Property Management! I have requested an email be sent from the Bank Manager including contact info and have asked the Escrow agent to send a scan of his drivers licence. The contacts at Luxury Resort Services are Douglas Laven, Mark Stricker, Robert Dorland. We live in Edmonton, Alberta.
Well, another of us who got taken signing in here. We went through the exact same process as the LA and the Portland writers (with Luxury Resort Services). First the Mexican state tax of $3182, the second one was a federal tax of $2937, and then we were notified on Friday that they needed an escrow fee of $1890. And even though we had misgivings, we paid up yesterday. And today, we found this site... We are appalled and mortified. What an expensive lesson, and we too hope they rot in hell! Believe me, we will notify every agency possible!
We dealt with Robert Dorland, Mark Stricker, and Douglas Lavin, and supposedly someone named Marcella Turner, but her name wasn't on anything.
I noticed that Cynthia Bowman and Tony Wagner were names used by both the LA and the Portland scammers as a reference--what a coincidence...
We are in the process of supposedly selling our time share in Cabo by Resort Property Management out of LA. They have a very nice web site and appear legit. However the numbers you are throwing out and the request for an Escrow fee of 1890.00 usd today are unsettling. We have paid the Mexican state tax of 13 % and fed tax of 12% approx 6, 000 usd.. . However this is a different company. I am scared silly we may be being scammed and do not know if we should wire the Escrow fee or not. Who should we talk to? We live in British Columbia, Canada.
For God's sake, don't throw good money after bad. Talk to the LA police, call the FBI, talk to your own police, but DON"T pay out anymore. You'll never see it againl. It's a hard, humiliating lesson.
Thanks, We have already made a formal online FBI complaint/query. The more I google the more I have the sinking knowledge they have scammed us over $6000.usd. already, We are not ssure if our actual tiemsharei is in jeopardy due tyo the info we gave them and documents we have signed. Can anybody help with tyhis question? I think they would have to be really dumb to actually try and steal and sell our timeshare. That would leave a paper trail fopr the FBI.
This is an extremely elaborate scheme. I have yet to hear of anyone that has ever seen any funding. As an additional check, we requested to see an account statement of the account with supposed funds. They were able to provide this to us under Banorte heading! Obviously forged. We requested that our supposed Escrow agent provide a drivers licence scan, as well as Mark Stricker, and have not received anything, and they will no longer answer the phone. The website is still down. Please - anyone who has sent anything off to any of these groups, STOP NOW! We have also notified our bank and will be contacting our home resort to ensure no further damage is taken. If anyone is still unsure, ask one of the agent's to provide ID...
Re- Resort Property Management -
We are very appreciative of those that have made comments on this site. We were about to wire the ecrow fees of $1, 890.usd to the so called International Service Agent (supossedly there to act on our behalf). Thankfully due to the other complaints we have stopped altogether and informed our timeshare company, the FBI and the LA District Attorneys office. So far I have just not paid anything further. I imagine the next step will be to tell them we are backing out of the sale and want our Mexican tax money back unless they can provide absolute proof they are legit which I am 99% certain they are not. Their response will tells us everything we need to know. They provided authentic looking Mexican govt tax receipts and a letter on Banorte letter -head paper, . Their web site looks legit, however the escalating fees and taxes seemed very suspicious right from the start. It appears we gambled and lost. However they swear the money for the timeshare sale is scheduled to be wired to our bank account on Friday subject to us sending off the escrow fees first. Elaborate sheme?. most very likely .
Hello Everyone! I too have been dooped by these unethical people! i have always prided myself on being very careful and skeptical of these kind of deals. But like all of you, they had me convinced that it was all legit. I had the exact same thing with close to the same amounts taken by them. I am totally for going after them and doing whatever is to be done to bring some sort of justice to all of us. I will be more than happy to be involved in any and all action to bring these peopl to their knees. if anyone has any info on how to proceed, please let me know. I am in Fresno, Ca. and had the exact same thing happen just this past month. they are no longer answering emails, phone has been disconnected and the so called escrow company hangs up everytime i call. they are into me for over 8500 in monies. Lets all band together and get these guys and at least help stop this from happeneing to someone else. I hope to hear from someone soon as to how to move forward.
Contact Mike from Whistler BC Canada
I swear that if I knew some shady characters that for money would exact justice on these bottom crawling ### -sucking maggots, I would pay them well to make the ### wish they were never born. All I can say to those ### suckers is ..."watch your backs".
I hope they read these blogs.
i think we all need to get together and form an alliance to fight this group. how can we do this? i am totally wanting to make them pay for our losses. we need to band together and file complaints with the LA Da's office or whatever orangization that helps fight internet fraud and fraud in general. if anyone knows what organization we need to complain to, please let me know. my email is sean.connolly64@gmail.com
To David Ross & Sean Connolly & Others.
I completely agree that we should form a group to battle this scam. Whether it be Executive Property Management in LA, or Luxury Resort Services in Portland, it seems we are dealing with the same fraud.
Is anyone willing to lead this fight? If so, we should exchange email addresses to start with, and then decide how we want to move forward. I am in Edmonton, and can be reached at glen.kennedy@prism-eng.ca.
To All:
I would very much like to go after the perpetrators . However I have complained to the FBI and to the LA Attorneys office.
LA Attorneys office called me back yesterday and basically said they could do nothing further for me. They did walk over to the address where Resort Property Management had a phantom cmpany location. The address exists but no Resort Property Management company exists there. (as I could have told them). LA Attorneys office told me that since it is an interstate and international issue the FBI would be our best bet.
I have already cointacted the FBI with no call back from them, I dont expect one. They may be investigating but we may never know for sure since they typically take info in but give nothing out, . I am thinking if we really want something done and to have any hope of ever geting any money back we all need to hire one lawyer (located in United States) and jointly pay the firm to go after these ###. This takes coordination and comittment and money up front. Any takers?
Hello David and Glen,
I am completely in agreement and willing to go after these guys even if it means making a financial investment into this to get these guys. if we dont try to stop them, they will continue to make victims of other people who like us were stupid enought to fall for their meaningless words. please feel free to contact me directly at sean.connolly64@gmail.com. i really am up for the fight and getting these guys!
Sean
I have been in contact with Sean above. It looks like we are willing to band together and see if we can track anyone down via lawyer or private investigator. Is anyone else interested in joining the fight? David - you obviously have an interest. Send me your contact info to the email address above and we'll go from there.
My husband wrote a reply, but am not sure which site it went to, so I'll reiterate. We agree that it would be good to get together on this. We've notified all the authorities we can think of, but no one seems interested, and the FBI hasn't responded. We need to find out who these people actually are. There does seem to be a telephone number trail still working in Oregon (tho you said the ones in LA were disconnected.). Law enforcement could trace those calls if they were interested, but no one seems interested. Could try a private investigator, but that would probably be pricey. I plan on calling the FBI on Monday (we only filed a written complaint with them), to follow up. Our e-mail is jsbow@cableone.net. Better that we communicate thru e-mail.
jan and jim bowers
We have also been dumb. We are just now finding out how we didn't listen to that voice inside that said if it sounded too good to be true it probably was. We were called by Luxury Management Group from San Francisco. All of your remarks are just like what happened to us down to the references with the same names. I hope we can recover from our losses, but it will be tough and take some time. We are going to the bank that we wired the money to, to see if there is any recourse that direction, but I am sure there is not. Our next step will be to call the attorney general of CA and lodge a complaint. We will probably never see that money again. The names of the people are Monica Holden, Larry Newman, Greg Easton, Alex Lopez in SF. The escrow company is supposedly in Mexico City with the names Susana Rameriz, Joel Romero, Juan Jose Bernal Meda all with Corporacion Pragmas City S. A. DE C.V.
We paid the taxes, the escrow fee that was to release the funds, and then the liberation money, and then the transfer fee. Always another reason for more. They keep you with the lie that the wired money will be there in a few hours.
Thank you all for your comments, I have been contacted by Luxury Management Group with the same scam, too good to be true. Having found your posts, we have not wired money. We did contact the FBI and their response was "the scam is so large that we can't do anything with your information, thank you for trying to help but please don't wire money" - Our government at work, . . . some help our tax dollars are providing - very disappointed by law enforcement
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. When I was told to wire the tax fee, it sent up a red flag. I am so glad I researched this. I would also like to file a complaint. My email is elliott@wcoil.com
There are several companies that are legit. If you folks need help recovering some of the money you have lost you can contact a real company with a business license in California, EIN, and registered with the BBB. They are called Sharons Care you can contact Sharon at [protected]. They helped me and my wife get money back. We were hit by the same scam but from a company called Dallas Resale Group
Great thank you all for these comments. It looks to me like Ocean Bay Management in Long Beach might be connected to all of this. They send me an offer that was double what I paid for my timeshare. Doing this research I now will not answer thier calls anymore. Thank you all you saved me hassle
Does anyone have verification that ocean bay mgmt is fraudulent?
Please read my comments re; Waterfront Property Mgmt in Houston, TX. Same story, different names, same Bank, Acct #' and Same Swift code. I posted under internet fraud, It sould have shown up here.
Original text copied and pasted
waterfront property management
Posted: 2012-10-10 by
Laurelle Perry
internet fraud
Complaint Rating:
contact information:
Waterfront Property Management
Texas
United States
waterfrontproperty-management.com
Thank you all for the information. It saved me only one day before I made the same mistake. The Company now is Waterfront Property Management out of Houston TX. While the name is different the bank ID and acct number are the same. The details are exactly the same. I have all the coresspondence, names of individuals, including so called Exec Dir of WPM, David Barnett who spells his last name different on different docs. The Bank of Mexico, Banorte is obviously letterhead forged by WPM. The bottm line is these people are fakes and a knockoff or the same people operating as Executive Property Mgmt. I almost fell for it but landed on this page when their sales pitch started to sound fishy towards the end. I am contacting the FBI through the www.ic3.gov, Internet Crime Complaint Center, Houston Police Dept, Financial Crimes Unit, The Better Business Bureau of Houston, TX and the Atty Gen of TX. Also, I truly believe that the timeshare membership people are also involved because where did these people get my name and ownership info, as well as the fact that when I called Royal Sands Resort in Cancun they were very nonchalant and almost disinterested in saying " We don't know these people". They should be more interested in working with their "owners" to prevent this type of fraud. I Blame the resorts management too.
thank-you for saving me my money...because of these postings...i hpoe they catch these people before anyone else gets harmed...
So glad that you all posted your experiences. I, too, have been contacted to sell my timeshare for a ridiculously inflated price. The company is called Waterfront Property Management. I decided to check websites for possible fraud complaints and voila! There you are! Thanks for sharing. You've saved me time, money, and great aggravation.
I ve learned The Truth behind the timeshares scams. Justice will be served. I know the names, numbers and can knock on their door. I have to secure safety and necessities. Then I will raise the curtain...it's billions of dollars being handed to thieves. Has to stop!
Sean...put it together... I m coming...
I wanted to see if this thread was still active.
I received an offer on my Villas Vallarta studio timeshare from the following people:
Beacon Hill Travel Service
859 Willard Street
Suite 400
Quincy, Massachusetts 02169
st@bhtsservices.com
www.bhtservices.com
Tel: [protected]
Fax: [protected]
They also referenced an escrow company:
Georgia Escrow
3330 Cumberland Boulevard
Atlanta, Georgia 30339
The offer was for $24, 500.00. Seems way to good to be true.
Dane
Dane
We just rec'd an offer on our TS from Beacon Hill Travel Services...yup, seems to good to be true. Have contacted everyone and anyone I can think of to validate this offer. Dead end after dead end...?
Still do not think that this is legit..?
Anyone have any info on this company or it's associates?
I also have an offer from Beacon Hill Travel which is too good to believe. They emailed a signed contract but truly am skeptical after reading these post.
http://www.bbb.org/boston/business-reviews/travel-agencies-and-bureaus/beacon-hill-travel-service-inc-in-quincy-ma-135489/