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The expression “following like sheep” comes to mind. Of late it seems that all the timeshare scammers are jumping on the fake court case award and presenting a large sum in compensation, in this case £31.221 and to get this magnanimous amount all you have to do is pay the Spanish tax, for this scam an amount of £624.42. Now who wouldn’t invest 600 quid to get over £31k back? Seems like a good deal? Except it’s all fake. Before we completely dismantle this scam take a look at the email that is sent, an email that promises the earth but will deliver nothing.

The email

May we inform you that your information has been provided to us from the court of Malaga, Juzgados de Malaga.

 May we provide you with the notification that has been provided from the court of Malaga, Juzgados de Malaga, Calle Fiscal Luis Portero García, 0, 29010 Malaga, Spain.

    Translation of notification:

‘The Agencia Tributaria, Tax office, wish to inform you that we have received documentation from the court of Malaga, Juzgados de Malaga, Calle Fiscal Luis Portero García, 0, 29010 Málaga, Spain, with regards to a court case that has taken place due to U.K. citizens falling victim to fraud to timeshare telemarketers whom worked for fraudulent company(s) in the province of Malaga, Spain.

 Compensation has been awarded from the director of the company(s) listed below.

 “European Finance Solutions, EFS, Excalibur, Level 9 Resolutions SL, Sun Travel International, Half Moon Holdings, Principle Travel, Simple Timeshare Sales, Freewall Solutions, End Vacation, Iberian Dream Homes, Holiday Rentals Direct, Breakaway Vacation, CMC Accounts, Selling Time, Timeshare Resale, Emerald Rock Holdings, The timeshare Factory, Litigation services SL, Solutions, Litigation SL, Blue Chip, Blue Diamond, Fast Line, etc”.

The director of aforementioned company(s) has been found guilty of fraud and money laundering within Europe and the United Kingdom.

In your case it showed that you had made payments to account/s of the company/s in mention. May we inform you that your information was found among their bank statements. Payment may have been made by credit card, debit card, Western Union, money gram, bankers draft, Ukash vouchers, etc.

May we notify you that the company(s) changed names frequently, if you have made payment to any other company it will be linked to these company(s).

These company(s) claimed to be investment company(s) timeshare company(s) mediation company(s) litigation company(s) resale company(s) share holding company(s) notaries, lawyers, etc.

 The Judge at the court hearing ruled that all remaining funds in accounts linked to the aforementioned company(s) are to be divided equally amongst claimants, as there was insufficient evidence of how much each client of theirs had paid, but there was sufficient evidence that the director of the aforementioned company(s) had been working illegally and committing fraudulent activities, as they traded under many different company names, used many different payment methods and many different bank accounts.

 In the case of:

 MRS X

 Resident of:

 U.K.

Telephone number:

0044

A total of £31.221 is due to be paid as there is sufficient evidence that the named victim mentioned above was found victim to fraud.

 Issues surrounding previous money laundering problems in Spain mean that amounts over €10,000 are to be revised for money laundering and fraud purposes.

Your payment has been approved as it has been classed as a ‘compensation claim’ and will be sent directly to you from the court of Malaga.

Spanish tax laws dictate that amounts greater than €10.000 relating to compensation payments are subject to tax payment which must be paid in advance of authorisation being granted to release your funds.

The tax is refundable if you are not a resident of Spain.

If you are a resident of Spain, the tax is not refundable.

The tax payment for compensation payments is of 2%.

 If you are a British resident you are not liable for Spanish tax and therefore this is classed as a temporary payment which will be refunded to you within 14 working days of receipt.

 The amount payable is £624.42.

 Upon receipt of funds we will apply for the necessary authorisation on your behalf, our lawyer will pay and declare the tax on your behalf. This is a formality after-which you have two options to receive your payment, either bank transfer, this takes 24/48 hours to clear in your account or you may be paid via cheque, we do ask for you to allow a week for the cheque to arrive as it will be sent from Spain.

 Please note that should you decide to proceed and claim the compensation that you are now legally entitled to, you will no longer be able to take any further legal action against the aforementioned director of the aforementioned companies.

 Should you require any further clarification you may reply to this email or call via telephone.

 You may contact our English department on the following telephone number 0034 603 261 441.

 Kind regards.

Silvia Merino.

 Agencia Tributaria, Tax office.

 Calle héroe de sostoa 11-13, Malaga, 29002.

 0034603261441

Fact v Fiction

The first bit is easy, there are no truthful facts anywhere to be seen, the whole scenario is a lie and how are we so sure? Let’s take a look.

Regardless of the stated defendants, more on them later, there has been no court case and unfortunately probably never will be. Whilst we are aware of the companies mentioned and would agree that they were fraudulent operators, the email explains the following:

“The director of aforementioned company(s) has been found guilty of fraud and money laundering within Europe and the United Kingdom.”

If the case was against the “Director” of the “aforementioned” companies, then surely as the sole defendant his name would be mentioned rather than a shopping list of scam companies. Bearing in mind TCA has been in existence for 25 years we are well aware of the companies mentioned and although to someone not in the know we can state without fear of contradiction that with the exception of a few names there was no common Director, in fact most of them were never registered legal entities in Spain.

Believe us when we say our black list has at least 90% plus of all the known scam companies and for sure there are hundreds more not on the list quoted by the scammers. What if you are sent this email but the company that scammed you is not on the list? Well the scammers figure they’ve got that covered by the following ridiculous statement:

May we notify you that the company(s) changed names frequently, if you have made payment to any other company it will be linked to these company(s).

So any company that may have scammed you in the past is fair game, really? Do courts work that way?

The real giveaway

As if the above were not enough, there are two glaring errors, firstly, can you imagine an official Spanish Government body such as the Agencia Tributaria (The Spanish equivalent of the Inland Revenue) using a Gmail account? Well that’s exactly what our scammers would have you believe. From the email we see an address of gob.agenciatributaria.es@gmail.com.

The second blunder is a little more obscure, the telephone contact number is quoted as 0034 603 261 441. We would hardly expect UK readers to know that all Spanish mobile numbers start with the digit 6 or 7 but they do. All Spanish landlines start with 9. In the case of the real Agencia Tributaria in Malaga their contact number is 952 07 72 00. To avoid confusion 0034 is the international dialling code for Spain. 952 is the dialling code for Malaga, 603 is a random mobile number.

Comment

Again, all in all the email looks very convincing but its all lies. According to leading timeshare lawyers M1 Legal who have been responsible for millions of Euros in compensation claims on behalf of their clients, there is never any tax payable on legal claims. We mentioned Euros above, this begs the question as to why Sterling is quoted, surely the Spanish tax office would only communicate in and collect Euros, as would the Spanish court.

On the surface this all looks very convincing but we can categorically state that if it were in a library it would be filed in the fiction section. As is usual we are grateful for our enquirers input by sharing what we are now able bring to a wider readership.

We have stated on numerous occasions that to be involved in a court case anywhere you must have had prior notice. You are a plaintiff and as such must be mentioned by name. No court will simply accept a number of claimants out of the air; courts work on not only evidence but also the confirmation that you are a genuine claimant. For you to be represented in court in Spain you must have had previous involvement.

 We mentioned M1 Legal earlier, before their lawyers can represent a UK citizen in court a Power of Attorney needs to be in place. Did you sign such a document? We doubt it. Did you complete a witness statement? Again we doubt it. It’s this sort of proof, or rather lack of where the scammers fall down.

The chances are the scammers have your details because they once worked for the companies they cite in their correspondence so a double dip scam. We reported on this type of fraud recently, our article may be viewed here.

Please be on your guard, all that appears to glitter is not necessarily gold. If you fall for this, or any other related scam, it can be said with certainty that any monies paid will be monies lost.

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