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Police: Second scam busted in crackdown on illegal timeshare telemarketingFeb 03, 2011 (The Orlando Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- For the second time in a month, police swarmed a suspected timeshare telemarketing scheme in Orlando on Wednesday. According to police, 11 people were taken into custody for questioning. Early Wednesday evening, only one had yet been arrested on an unrelated warrant, but police said they expect all involved may eventually be charged. The raid happened in an office building on Hiawassee Boulevard in the MetroWest area. Police say the suite targeted was being used as a so-called "boiler room," where telemarketers cold-called timeshare owners from illegally obtained lists, claiming to have a buyer for their vacation property. "They were given a hard-sell," said Sgt. Amy Ameye, of the city's economic crimes unit. "They were told, 'If you send money... we will get the paperwork going, we will get your timeshare sold for you ASAP.'" However, investigators say there were never any buyers. Instead, they say the telemarketers were pocketing up-front fees and offering no service in return. "Once that money is sent, however it's sent, you never hear from these people again," Ameye said. As 6 p.m. approached, police were still working through piles of evidence and loading computers into a waiting van, as other officers interviewed the company's employees in an empty unit nearby. The owner of the business was still at large. When SWAT officers forced their way in to the suite, police said employees began tossing evidence out the windows, including cell phones investigators suspect were used for cold calls. Employees of other businesses housed in the office building said they'd had their suspicions about the busted business in the past. They said the employees of the suspected scam dressed and acted strangely. Police said the employees also often bragged about the thousands they were making. Aaron Thomas, who works at a real estate firm in the same building as the suite targeted in Wednesday's raid, said the business had been the subject of rumor among those who worked in the building, but no one seemed to know exactly what was happening inside. After the raid, he said he was thrilled police took action to shut down a company whose practices he said are damaging to his entire industry. "It's great, it's excellent," he said. "We definitely don't need that here." The bust on Wednesday was the second of its kind in a month. On Jan. 13, police stormed a suspected timeshare scam on North Magnolia Avenue. During that raid, police seized 200 computers, four cars and a $60,000 bank account, arresting four. A Crimeline tip led to the Magnolia Avenue business. Police said complaints led investigators to the business on Hiawassee Road. Ameye said investigators have no reason to suspect that the two companies are connected. However, the scheme they're suspected of running is essentially identical. In both cases, investigators said the suspects frequently changed the name of their business in order to stay a step ahead of authorities and dissatisfied customers. The business raided Wednesday most recently went by the name Timeshare Express Management, police said. Court records show the Magnolia Avenue business went by the names Resort Sales Group Inc., Resort Vacation Specialist LLC and Fullservice Timeshare, among others. The four arrestees in the Magnolia Avenue bust faced charges of employing unlicensed sales people and telephone solicitation without a license, as well as a third, licensing-related charge. It was unclear how many people would be arrested Wednesday, and what charges they would face. Jeff Weiner can be reached at 407-420-5171, [email protected] or @OSNightCops on Twitter. To see more of The Orlando Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.OrlandoSentinel.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. |