How To Avoid Timeshare Scams & How They Work
Learning how timeshare scams work and how to identify a scam is the first step in understanding how to avoid being duped by a fraudulent sales representative scams, resale company scams or other individual seeking to exploit or scam timeshare owners.
In this article we will explore the different ways you can avoid timeshare scams. The first step is to identify a scammer understand how to respond to them, and the next step is understanding their scam tactics.
The following are the different techniques used by scam artists in the timeshare industry. Each technique is easy to spot and avoid once you know how each scam technique works.
Generally people who contact you out of the blue from seemingly no where offering services are a red flag for being timeshare scams already and probably should be avoided at all costs. If you've been contacted by a timeshare rep or sales company the first step in figuring out whether the offer is a timeshare scam or legitimate, is determining exactly who you are talking to.
To find out if it's a legitimate timeshare company and not one of the many timeshare scams out there, ask questions like, "Who are you?" and "What company do you represent?" and do your own research about the company they claim to represent. Don't let them fast talk or manipulate you into making any quick decisions. Don't feel bad or guilty about making them wait while you do your homework on the company and be sure to ask them for credentials!
Are They Using Emotional Manipulation Tactics?
A legitimate and professional company will not try to use emotional manipulation or scam tactics on you to force a sale. If the sales rep or company is making you feel guilty, or playing mind games with you then you are probably talking to a timeshare scam company.
Never allow another person to leverage guilt or play emotional games with you to try to force you to do something that you don't really want to do. It is best to avoid timeshare companies that use emotional manipulation scams at all costs.
If the person you are talking to uses high pressure scam tactics, or attempts to make you feel bad or guilty for any reason tell them you know what they are doing and to stop. If they do not stop trying to push their scams on you, it's time to end the conversation with them and/or hang up and avoid them, they are scammers.
The best way to find out if a company is legitimate or not is going online and doing your own research. There are many ways to find out if the company that wants to do business with you is known for timeshare scams.
One of the best ways to avoid timeshare scams is to find out the companies website URL or business name and do a Google search on it. You can even put the URL or business name in quotes to get exact results to see if they are known for scams.
For example, if you were too want to contact How Timeshare Works, LLC for services and want to know whether they have good or bad reviews or are known for having a good reputation or not, you would do a Google search to find them Across The Web and look for the business name, How Timeshare Works, LLC to see that they are a legitimate company with absolutely no history of scamming people.
If the company is legitimate, usually they will have a functional website and some good reviews, but don't stop there! How long has their domain been operational? Are there good reviews about this company on the web, or negative reviews? Are they listed in the BBB as having a good score, or do they have complaints listed on the BBB with a history of scams?
Other things to look into to find out whether it's a legitimate company is whether they have a working phone number and address and whether their phone number and address comes up on Google when you do a search. Timeshare scam companies usually do not.