Attorney General Bill McCollum and Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson, at a joint press conference at the Capitol Thursday, announced a sweeping statewide crackdown on telemarketers who fraudulently scam timeshare customers.
McCollum and representatives of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation made unannounced visits to 67 telemarketing operations from Sept. 13-17. All 67 were centered in Floridas main metro areas -- Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Tampa/St. Petersburg and Orlando. The visits resulted in four arrests, $125,000 in fines, and 137 cease-and-desist orders.
McCollum and Bronson describe the typical scam as working like this: A telemarketer calls the owner of a timeshare saying he has an interested buyer. He asks the owner for a $1,500 upfront fee to help foster the transaction.
The problem is, that person probably does not have a buyer," Bronson said. "You send in the money, and all of a sudden you get a call that says they bailed out. The commissioner said the crackdown so far is the tip of the iceberg and the investigation is ongoing.
McCollum said his office has received more than 8,500 complaints about timeshare sales this year. His Economic Crimes Division is currently investigating 49 companies and is pursuing nine lawsuits against timeshare resale companies.
McCollum made a point of acknowledging that most of the timeshare industry is reputable, and that most of the fraudulent activity is being conducted by organizations that havent registered with Bronsons Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
(The scam artists) are not the mainstays of the timeshare industry, but theyre still doing it, theyre advertising on the Internet, McCollum said.
As the economy nationwide and in Florida has soured, scams like this one involving timeshares have increased, but they are especially prevalent in Florida, a state with many timeshares and an elderly population seen as easy targets by scammers.
The first thing that happens in hard times is, people get ripped off by ... outright criminals. In order to make their money, theyre stealing it from other people, Bronson said.
The following were arrested in the sweep:
Mark Allan Goolsby, manager of International Resort Sellers, LLC in Orlando, charged with unlicensed commercial sales.
Keith Grayson, a telemarketer for Lower Interest Rate Consulting, Inc., identified as telemarketing without a license and arrested on outstanding warrants of fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer and driving while license suspended.
Darren Daniels, a telemarketer with Vacation Property Resales, Inc. in Tampa, was identified as telemarketing without a license and arrested on outstanding warrants for possession of crack cocaine, possession of cocaine, battery and violation of probation.
Stacy Blossom, a telemarketer with Consumer Credit Group, was charged with unlicensed commercial sales.
McCollum had a warning for owners of timeshares and would-be victims.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, he said.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com, or at (850) 727-0859.
