Ten out of ten for the scam outfit behind this one. They have gone above and beyond the call of duty to convince their “mark” that he is due a vast sum of money, let’s take a closer look.
The background
Many years ago there was a bogus holiday club run by the Incentive Leisure Group (ILG). They sold memberships to the Designer Way Vacation Club (DWVC). The organisation was fronted by Garry Leigh until his untimely death in a cycling accident on the Costa del Sol, Spain in summer 2010.
Shortly after all companies related were placed into administration including Incentive Leisure Group (U.K.) Limited which was dissolved on 28th September 2010.However not before it caught the attention of Parliament. Scammers have obtained lists of DWVC & ILG members and are now contacting them with information concerning a court case that has taken place in Spain and as a former member awards have been granted by the courts, true or false? Here’s what we found.
The court case that never was
Firstly we have to say that there has been no court case and never will be, now that’s out of the way, let’s look how this scam is put together. The victim is sent various paperwork substantiating the fact that a court case had taken place. One of the documents is 30 pages long and is indeed a transcript of the court case, except for one problem; the case refers to an entirely different prosecution.
In three places the document has been doctored to include the name of Incentive Leisure Group, even to the untrained eye you can see the cut and paste. The actual case refers to the embezzlement of public funds; one of the companies replaced with ILG is Viajes Alemany SA. In the entire thirty pages of the document there is no mention of a holiday club or associated text that may be attributable to Garry Leigh, ILG or DWVC. Knowing that most recipients will have no understanding of the Spanish language, the document is sent to convince that there was a court case, which indeed there was, just nothing to do with ILG.
A further point is that ILG & DWVC offices were located in Malaga province, although the parent companies were registered in the UK and Gibraltar. Our first question would be why a supposed court case took place in Barcelona province when the company sales office was based in Malaga province? Spanish courts normally hear cases in the province where the offence took place.
The document also states “Unitat Central Anticorrupció de la Divisió d’Investigació Criminal del Cos de Mossos d’Esquadra.” This is Cataluñias own police force and has no jurisdiction in Malaga province.
A further point is that the court document states the Spanish word Apelante, very similar to the English word appellant, someone who appeals. So this is not even a primary hearing, it’s an appeal court hearing for the original case heard in September 2019.
By adding Incentive Leisure Group to this list would indicate that they too are appealing but they don’t exist anymore, note the different font used for Incentive Leisure Group and all other words are capitalised.
The courts document is accompanied by a fake banker draft from Banco Sabadell. Our prospect has been awarded €34,900 or sterling equivalent of £29,614 and obviously as the bankers draft is completed the transfer is good to go. See below:
Let’s take a closer look at this document. The telephone quoted is a Spanish mobile number, is it really credible that any Spanish court would use mobiles? The answer is no, the real contact number for the court is 934 866200, 934 being the dialling code for Barcelona. The second point is the fake email address; the real email address for this court is aps16.barcelona@xij.gencat.cat
A further point is that the domain name used for the fake email isn’t owned as may be demonstrated by the fact it’s for sale:
The domain name on the email sent is admin@servicioslegalesespana.com. This is a real domain name; however it was only registered on 22nd September 2021,
How this scam pans out
Naturally as with all scams there is a request for money, in this case it appears to be for the preparation of a nonexistent form which apparently was omitted from the original court presentation and the email confirmation of this may be seen below:
Dear Mr,
We are pleased to inform you on the success of your claim against Incentive Leisure Group.
Please find attached the Court Transcripts, your settlement description and your bankers draft receipt as confirmation that the funds have been sent.
We understand that you were contacted by UK International Clearance regarding a stop on the payment, we believe this to be due to your “I75 International Registration Document” being omitted from your case file. Please rest assured the lawyers are aware of this situation and will contact you tomorrow to rectify this problem.
For your information;
A I75 International Registration Document must accompany any compensation amount that has been awarded by a European Court of Law.
The I75 International Registration Document along with the compensation amount must be registered with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This document must clearly state that you are the beneficiary and with full clarification of the legitimacy of the funds.
The first point is that there is no such form as I75 and it is the acquisition of this so called form that brings a cost. By this stage our enquirer was getting more suspicious here’s what he told us:
A Mr Martin Jones who wanted me to pay the costs of a solicitor, £2500, who was arranging the payment before any money could be transferred. As I had been suspicious from the start, I refused to send them any money. I have heard nothing from them since this last contact.
We are in no doubt that this payment would just be the beginning of more requests for more money. Thankfully our enquirer was suspicious from the off, we requested that he send the documentation he received and this allowed us to confirm his beliefs.
Final comment
To the untrained eye this is a good one, 30 pages of Spanish court documentation that looks believable but as we have demonstrated has nothing whatsoever to do with ILG. The absolute certainty is that there is no money despite fake proof that there is. There has never been and neither will there be any cases against ILG, DWVC, Club Class, Leisure Alliance or any other failed holiday clubs.
As we have stated before, court cases in Spain and anywhere else for that matter don’t happen without both the defendants and plaintiffs participation. You cannot suddenly be awarded money if you have neither participated or were aware of such a case.
Post Script
As we finished this article we were approached by another enquirer who told a similar story except this time the court was in Valencia. A virtual mirror image of the court documentation was sent although the story was slightly different, below is the email sent:
Dear Mr. & Mrs.
We are delighted to notify you of the outcome of your claim against Club Sunterra
Please find the following attached-
Court Transcripts, your settlement description, and your banker’s draft settlement.
We see that you were contacted by Azimo global money transfers in regards to a stop on the payment,
we understand this to be due to your Entitlement documentation being absent from your file.
You may rest assured the lawyers are aware of this,
and will either contact you this afternoon or tomorrow to make sure this complication is rectified.
Just so you’re aware;
The entitlement documentation must accompany any compensation due that has been awarded by a European Court of Law.
The entitlement documentation along with the compensation due must be registered with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This document must evidently state that you are the beneficiary and with full clarification of the legitimacy of the monies.
Kind regards
Mr. Johnathan Jones.
So the court in Valencia employs native English staff, we doubt it. Apart from the facts above whoever put this scam together is beyond amateur. The doctored Barcelona document has been changed to show Valencia is so bad it’s laughable, not even a font match or level, see below:
As if this wasn’t enough, the so called Johnathan Jones who supposedly works for the official courts in Valencia has a Gmail address, really! john jones <valenciajuristicreclamacion@gmail.com. Just for information, the real email address is vaap07_val@gva.es
In both instances this is a good one, although the Valencia one is a comedy of errors. Don’t be fooled if you are approached. The going rate for the fake forms mentioned is £2,500, maybe this scam finishes there. Ten victims a week who are suckered in is a tidy little earner, please make sure you are not one. Below you can download the various documents.
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