The “well-forgotten old” art of selling “timeshare” to unsuspecting tourists began to be practiced in the resorts of Egypt. As the local media will report, the heirs of the “big and small thimbles of the period of wild capitalism” of the 90s are trying to deceive tourists thirty years later with approximately the same methods. Families with children who have thoroughly forgotten this method of “divorce” are at risk.
We will remind you, the main essence of the fraud is that tourists are “steamed” by the long-term rental of a hotel room for a decent amount. As the victims told the media, whose head of the family “fell” under the control of fraudsters in Sharm el-Sheikh – and immediately gave 1,200 euros – the point is that the tourist is assured that after paying a certain amount, he will be able to rest in rooms in this hotel or a similar hotel room of this chain worldwide. Tourists are promised a “personal manager” and all hotel services for free. According to the victim, the total amount is 3,500 euros and is charged in three installments, but you can come already on the first tranche.
“It sounded attractive,” the tourist admits. What is the essence of “divorce”? “Firstly, in the fact that the same number can be sold as many times as you like, at least for each check-in. Many owners of the same room will share it according to the time of stay with the help of a “personal manager”. The scheme was developed back in the 90s and has not even changed since the tourist “shakes off” 30% of the payment and signs a contract in which everything is beautiful: the tourist named the owner of such a room in the hotels of such a chain, in several countries of the world. It sounds nice, but in reality, when the client calls the indicated phones to discuss the time of arrival, something starts to happen: the hotel is under renovation, the room is currently occupied by other owners, the season is too high, the season is too low… And as a result, the personal manager disappears at all,” – explained the essence of “divorce”, a lawyer whose practice began with similar “cases” from the 90s.
At the same time, according to him, at that time it was impossible to find the management of these timeshares, whose companies were registered in various offshore companies. “It is impossible to terminate the contract and return the advance payment. There were cases when too intrusive “owners” were nevertheless sent to rest on their property. But in reality, it turned out to be even more expensive than just buying a tour. Extra payment for this, for that, a flight on a certain flight — if the trip is “helped” to be organized by the company that sold the person a timeshare. And if he goes alone, he is faced with the fact that no one knows anything about any timeshare in the place,” the expert added. According to him, fraudsters are specifically targeting CIS countries, who can visit “their” number only once a year, when they have a vacation — and it is at this moment that “objective difficulties” arise.
It should be said that the “victims” reported that they made adjustments to the contract. For example, it did not mention the possibility of occupying the “property” at any time, on the contrary, it was discussed that during the high season it would not be possible to live for free. The injured “timeshare owners” are sure that they were “zombified”, but it was not possible to terminate the contract and return the money. As experts assure, there is a risk of running into fraudsters in other countries as well — in particular, in the Dominican Republic, Turkey, and Cuba. Experts warn tourists that going to presentations, and especially opening your wallet there, is categorically not recommended.