Scam Update:

Main Things You Need to Know

How do scammers get

my personal information?

Universal Vacation Club International and the Villa Group place paramount importance on the safety and security of our members’ personal information. At all times, we protect and secure your information from outside companies. Always remember, WE DO NOT SELL YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION. Our group has operated for more than 35 years, we have not been bought or taken over by any other company, and we will always work hard to safeguard and protect your private information. 

IMPORTANT: Please, always keep in mind that throughout the history of the Internet and its inception, many of the social media platforms or websites you have visited store, and/or are able to attain and store user’s private information through cookies, your computer browsing history, and other measures. Your phone number, address, email address, and much of the personal information you have shared with other companies in the past (ex: utility companies, phone companies, credit bureaus, Department of Motor Vehicles, state, local, and government agencies, etc.) is often already available on the Internet, simply do a Google search on yourself to see.

MOST COMMON SCAMMER TACTICS

GUARANTEED EXIT

The scammer will offer you a “guaranteed” way to exit your membership.

UPFRONT FEE

You may be asked to pay an upfront fee to either rent your timeshare or sell your timeshare.

MULTIPLE CALLS

Multiple calls and emails per day are not uncommon.

FAKE PARTNERS

The scammer may offer to “work with” the resort on your behalf. The scammer may even claim to be calling from the resort or a “resort partner.” We have had scammers claim to be the Mexican government!

CONFIRM ACCOUNT

Scammers may ask you to share or confirm your account information before continuing with the conversation.

THE $799 SCAM

Scammers have been asking members to pay $799 (or $14,500) to rent out their timeshare.

CITY WIDE EVENTS

Another common tactic is for scammers to tell members that a city-wide event, such as a fishing tournament, is occurring during a specific date. The scammer creates a sense of urgency and will insist that it is the perfect time to rent out the property since the city will be packed with tourists.

ASSURED RESALE

The scammer will call you and offer you money on an assured resale. In exchange, they will ask for a deposit to cover taxes.

WARNING SIGNS OF A SCAM

You are receiving phone calls from people trying to sell you products or services with terms that sound too good to be true or offering to purchase or resell your timeshare with terms that are too good to be true.

You are receiving unsolicited calls from people claiming to work for a government agency.

You are receiving automated sales calls from a company you have not authorized to contact you at any point.

HELP US STOP SCAMS

CONTACT US

If we feel they are safe to forward, we may ask you to send us any emails you have received from the scammer. In the meantime, we will gather the details of the potential scam and send you a letter acknowledging your email.

GATHER INFO

Keep the person on the line and get as many details as possible about the organization. Save all correspondence and emails and write down the time, date, and phone number of any calls you receive. Do not forward any suspicious emails in order to avoid spreading viruses. And of course, when the scammer asks, do not offer up any information about your membership. Do not give the caller your bank account number, credit card, or wire money if a deal seems too good to be true.

Tell the questionable caller to remove you from the contact list immediately and hang up.

INVESTIGATE

If you are concerned that a company may be a part of a scam operation, you should always look them up online. You can do this by entering their name, company name, and contact information into a credible search engine. Lastly, you can verify if the email address that is contacting is a part of a scam by using Whois, an internet domain search company, to run a search of any suspicious domain. Read a full blog post on how to investigate scammers and what to look for.

REPORT

You can file a report with a law enforcement agency. The more information you can provide the agency, the better. Law enforcement will not allow us to file a claim on your behalf (which makes sense), but we can help you organize your details.