Warning: Timeshare Fraud Targeting Older Investors

Missouri Secretary of State’s Office issues cease and desist orders over possible timeshare investment fraud.

Robin Carnahan, Missouri Secretary of State, has issued cease and desist orders against four Missouri men, a business in Panama, two Mexican businesses, and a Nevada promoter. Allegedly, the group has targeted Missouri residents, all of whom are between the ages of 64 and 86, for an “investment” deal that promised returns between 9 and 11 percent for 25 years.

After investing a minimum of $5,000 each, the individuals were told that their “investment” was actually a timeshare resort property in Cancun, Mexico. Sell My Timeshare NOW reminds you, timeshares should never be purchased as an investment for financial return.

Timeshare vacation property offers an excellent way to “invest” in a vacation lifestyle. Timeshare units afford you a way to lock-in today’s vacation prices for a lifetime of vacation accommodations. And timeshares are one of the easiest ways for busy families to manage their vacation planning. In many cases, when timeshares are owned as deeded property, the timeshare can be left through your legal will to your heir, providing generations of vacation enjoyment. But timeshare ownership, as rewarding as it can be, should never be entered into as an investment for the purpose of realizing financial gain. Not only is it unethical to represent timeshares as investments, it also violates Securities and Exchange Commission laws.

In the Missouri case, the investments totaled $1.8 million. According to an article in the Kansas City Star, “Carnahan’s office said the investments were not registered in Missouri and the investors did not understand that they had to manage their timeshare units themselves.”

In other words, the only way for the new timeshare property owners to earn a return on the money they spent on timeshare intervals, is for them to use it as timeshare rental properties. Saddest of all is the news that some of the money these people spent was from their retirement funds or other annuities, or from certificates of deposit and IRAs, representing money that is critical to their support.

The businesses named in the cease and desist order are: Yucatan Resorts (Mexico); Resort Holdings International (Mexico); Majesty Travel (Panama); and Resort Holdings International (Nevada, US). Action against these companies may also be taken in Minnesota, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and New Mexico.

Lastly, let me take this opportunity to remind you that, if you are interested in Mexico timeshare, there are excellent, legitimate ways to purchase it as a Mexico timeshare resale, Cancun timeshare resale, Mexico timeshare rental, or Cancun timeshare rental.