They were jailed for scamming the elderly and the poorly, the type of client that should not be sold to without a sound minded third party being there. These clients are generally known as vulnerable clients, and extra caution should be taken in a sale to them. This was clearly not the case with this company, they actually preyed on the weak.
The guilty as charged are;
Daniel Carr, 24 from Redditch, sentenced to four years for conspiracy to fraud.
Brian Carr, 31 from Redditch, sentenced to 6 years and 8 months for perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to fraud.
Brendan Hicks, 28, from Redditch sentenced to a suspended one year and six months’ sentence along with 250 hours of community service for fraudulent trading.
James Barass, 37, from Norwich sentenced to two years in prison for money laundering.
Craig walker, 27, from Redditch sentenced to three years in prison for conspiracy to defraud.
Steven Cross, 37 from Worcester sentenced to six months in prison for conspiracy to defraud.
Mathew Barker, 25 from Bromsgrove sentenced to one year and one month in prison, suspended for one and a half years along with 250 hours of community service for fraudulent trading.
Alan Sharp, 66 from Norwich sentenced to 8 months in prison suspended for a year along with 200 hours of community service for money laundering.
Dawn Gingell, 55, from Hampshire sentenced to three years and six months in prison for conspiracy to defraud.
All of the above frauds were committed between 2012 and 2015 with the hoax being carried out in three stages. The first stage was a cold call to the client advising them that they had a buyer for their timeshare property, all the seller had to do was send in advance a ‘sale fee’ which was never intended for any of the authorities and simply banked. Then the sale would miraculously fall through, leaving the timeshare owner further out of pocket, as they cannot recuperate the sale fee.
Then the company name changed to something else, with the same people running the new company as before. There were varied offers made to the owners that were sold as better than having a timeshare, and they could dispose of their timeshare for a further sum of money and the new product.
The final part of the scam found the same people again calling the owners from the ‘Spanish authorities’ promising their money back to them if they paid an upfront fee. Another lie, and another way to line their pockets.
There were a total of 10 limited companies set up to carry out these actions, with some being in the UK, and others further afield in Europe. There were a total of 470 victims that are now facing proceedings to recover the funds that they have lost. Between all of the victims, totals £875,000.
It is a relief that this practice was put to an end, but we would like to hear from anyone that was affected by this scam, and if they are in the process of recuperating their losses. We also want to advise that you should always check out a company first before making an upfront payment. If these consumers had taken extra caution they may have been able to avoid the heartache they are going through.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk