The owners’ association is an organization made up of all the timeshare owners, including you. Do you want another timeshare? No? What makes you think that any of us want another timeshare deed? If you are leaving enough funds to pay for the expenses, we will take the deed as a courtesy, but otherwise, no timeshare owner needs the burden of paying their own expenses and yours too. 

At some point in the past, every Vacation Villas at FantasyWorld owner purchased a deeded timeshare which is scheduled to end after everyone gets their 2030 vacation (2029 vacation for biennial odd owners). Owners who are planning to fulfill their original commitment can just pay the annual maintenance fees, vacation as scheduled, and the timeshare will end after 2030 as schedule. This plan has been in place since the resort was created and has not changed.  

This one is legal and is often done through law firms.  The company (or law firm) send the Resort a hardship letter asking to release the Owner from the deed and they also demand that the Resort communicate ONLY WITH THE COMPANY, not directly with the Owner.  This is perfectly legal.  The bills go to the company instead of to the Owner. Costs are still accruing, so is interest, late fees, and penalties.  The only difference is the bills are going to the company (or law firm) instead of to the Owner. 

This one is so easy to fall for, it can even fool the experts.  These are the companies that “guarantee” to sell your week within 30 days or you get your $4K back (yes, they usually charge between $3K and $5K but I’ve seen them as high as $15K).  Most scams sound too good to be true.  This one doesn’t which is why many Owners assume it is real.  What they do is deed your week to a shell corporation with no assets or to a homeless guy who doesn’t know he owns 387 timeshare weeks or better yet, they just make up a name.  You don’t know it’s a scam so you pay the fee and they record a deed from you to “Michael Taylor” of Meridian Mississippi.  All the Resort knows is it has a deed from you to Mr. Taylor.  So, of course, the Resort sends Mr. Taylor the bill for next year’s maintenance fees, not you.  As far as you can tell, it worked like a charm.  You aren’t filing Better Business Bureau complaints or poor reviews online because you aren’t getting any more bills.  It was expensive, but it seems like it worked; and it does seem that way for a while.  The Resort’s bill to Mr. Taylor comes back “not at this address”. The Resort does a skip trace to try to find him.  Turns out there are 22 Michael Taylors in Meridian Mississippi. The Resort tries to figure out which one is the new owner.  There is Michael R. Taylor and Mike Taylor and Michael B. Taylor and Michael Taylor, Jr. (whose father recently passed away and he doesn’t know if Dad bought a timeshare or not).  After a few years the Resort realizes it has 5 weeks deeded to Mr. Taylor and he doesn’t exist.  To clear the title to those weeks, the Resort files a foreclosure action against the owner for all the unpaid maintenance fees, penalties, interest, etc.  Of course, the Resort can’t sue a ghost, so the foreclosure lawsuit names the last legitimate owner.  That’s you.  Now you’re really mad but it has been 4 years since you paid the company and they are gone (along with all your money).  Now you want to complain to the BBB and file poor reviews online but the same people who scammed you are doing business under a new name and phone number.  There’s even a twist where they will claim your week was given to a charitable organization for orphans or special needs children so you can take a big tax write-off for “donating” your week.  That’s worse because you could end up in trouble with the IRS.  Remember this—If the person or entity you are transferring to has no intention of paying maintenance fees then it is a fraudulent transfer and legally invalid.

You get a call or email from somebody offering to help you sell your timeshare by listing it on their website which is the biggest and best website where thousands of weeks are bought and sold for top dollar every day.  You just pay them a few hundred bucks for a 6 month ad (they’ll even offer you a full refund if it doesn’t sell). Often they claim they will vet the potential purchasers and run credit checks on them, and even do the closing paperwork for you. It’s a scam.  Anybody can set up a website.  Anybody can cut-and-paste a list of ads. That doesn’t mean people are really buying weeks on the site.  It’s not technically breaking the law if they really have a website.  They are allowed to engage in “puffery” meaning claims that they are the “best”, weeks are sold for “top dollar” or something like that.  There are some legitimate websites where weeks are bought and sold but again, it takes work and patience.  The worst part of this is that such websites are rarely used by people really looking to buy a timeshare but they’re regularly used by scammers looking to take advantage of owners who want to dispose of their week.  It’s like painting a target on your back.

As email has become a common method of interaction,scams conducted through email directly targeting owners of a specific timesahre have become more prevalent. These emails appears to come from the Resort and offers an “Annex Program” where you pay a fee to have your timeshare transferred to someone else. This program sounds similar to the Resort’s legitimate exit programs like the Wind-Down Plan and the Speed-Up Plan, however, THE EMAIL IS A SCAM.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW AN EXAMPLE OF THE LATEST SCAM EMAIL.

Some information has been redacted to protect the owner’s privacy, and other information has been highlighted to illustrate the tell-tale signs of a scam. Keep reading to learn what to look for to spot this scam, as well as other timeshare scams out there.

Affected owners have reported this scam to law enforcement and the Resort’s staff is on alert. The best way Owners can protect themselves against this scam and others is by educating themselves and being vigilant. Continue reading to learn about other types of scams and how to avoid them.

1. The email address doesn’t match the Resort’s domain. All legitimate emails from the resort will look like this: name@fantasyworldtimeshare.com. Be cautious of emails that don’t end with @fantasyworldtimeshare.com.
 
2. The email demands payment via wire transfer. We will NEVER require you to pay by wire transfer. The Resort accepts payments via check, credit, or debit card. Be very suspicious if asked to pay via wire transfer, and especially if the bank is in another country.
 
3. The beneficiary information for the wire transfer isn’t the Resort. When paying by check, checks should always be made out to Vacation Villas at FantasyWorld TOA, Inc. When paying by card, the Resort’s name will appear on your statement. Be cautious of any request to pay a beneficiary other than the Resort.
 
4. The email signature may include the name of a known Resort employee or Board member and the resort’s logo, but the contact phone and email aren’t associated with the resort. Scammers can easily find our employees and Board members names and our logo online. If in doubt, do not call the phone number shown on the questionable email, contact the resort at 407-396-8530 and ask to speak to the person named in the email.