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Man who promised to recover timeshare fees jailed

Officials in Singapore have sentenced another timeshare fraudster, after he was involved in multiple cheating scams, duping unsuspecting timeshare owners into believing he could recover money from terminating their timeshare memberships. He has been sentenced to 3 and a half years imprisonment for his part in this huge scam.

A court heard that during the course of three years, over 50 victims reported to police that they were cheated by the defendant into paying money to recover some of the money they had already paid to their timeshare resorts. Victims paid nearly $100,000 to the fraudster and his co-conspirators.… Read more

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Scammers Targeting University Students

Thousands of fraud reports have been received by the tax authority from students at university and colleges across the UK. Fake emails, which use university addresses in a bid to appear legitimate, may tell people that they are owed money and encourage them to send their personal details. The recipient’s name and email address may be included several times within the email itself and the email will include links that redirect the recipient to websites where their data is stolen. The emails often spoof the branding of HMRC, Gov.UK or credit card branding.

Director of Action Fraud, Pauline Smith … Read more

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Italian Regulator issues record fine to Facebook

Italy’s consumer regulator is fining Facebook over £8 million, for concealing how they make money from their data. The fine comes after an investigation by the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) looked into alleged violations of the consumer code by Facebook.

According to the ICA, Facebook violated four of the consumer code regulations, they say: Facebook emphasises the free nature of the service, but not the commercial objectives that underlie the provision of the social network service, thus inducing users into making a transactional decision that they would not have taken otherwise (i.e., to register in the social network and to … Read more

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Who’s side is your bank on?

The BBC programme, Watchdog, has investigated the story of a young victim who was beaten and left unconscious in a park and then had his entire inheritance raided from his bank account. To make matters worse his bank, NatWest, refused to help him.

Attackers made 39 transactions in one day, raiding the victims entire account, all whilst he was lying unconscious in hospital. NatWest refused to accept that the £20,000 spending spree was nothing to do with him, despite being provided evidence he was in hospital at the time the transactions were made. The young victim, named in the … Read more

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South Africa Timeshare industry set for major overhaul

The regulatory body which overseas timeshares in South Africa say that they are preparing a major overhaul, after receiving thousands of complaints from unhappy consumers. The National Consumer Commission, which regulates consumer and business interaction, launched an inquiry in May 2017 to better understand the consumer impact of the timeshare and vacation ownership industry. Hearings were conducted over the course of six months and a panel of experts approved the recommendations, to correct structural and behavioural issues in the industry.

During the hearings, the panel heard a number of concerns raised by consumers, including the accumulation of points from vacation … Read more

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Multiple Lawsuits Against Marriott For Huge Data Breach

Marriott Hotels and Resorts has been hit with a huge class-action lawsuit over the data breach which saw 500 million customers affected, and that’s just the start. Under GDPR, the hospitality giant could face the world’s first significant fine under the new data protection act.

Despite Marriott being headquartered in the US, the breach falls under European wide GDPR rules, meaning the group now faces financial penalties of up to 4% of its annual global revenue. And in 2017 Marriott generated approximately 22.9 Billion US dollars in revenue last year. The news doesn’t get any better over in the US … Read more

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Timeshare Company Could Face Prosecution

A timeshare travel company based in Cape Town, could face prosecution for multiple charges, including tricking customers into signing up for a membership.

Vacation Hub International, a membership based travel and lifestyle company, is being investigated by South Africa’s National Consumer Commission. The NCC is the primary regulator of consumer business in South Africa, and helps regulate business practices. After investigating the company, NCC referred the case to its prosecutors. They allege that the vacation company misrepresented themselves in order to trick people into signing up to their services. They used unfair tactics to prevent customers from cancelling their memberships … Read more

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Letting agency demanding money for simply viewing a property

The BBC programme Victoria Derbyshire has found that a letting agency has been demanding hundreds of pounds from prospective tenants to view properties for rent. The agency in question is Flintons in London and, so far, they have denied all these allegations, but these practices breach guidelines and could be unlawful.

Despite denying the allegations, several of Flintons clients told the BBC programme they were told by estate agents that they would receive a refund if they did not want to take a tenancy agreement on the property they were viewing, but, when they did request refunds, were told the … Read more

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Timeshare still popular in the United States

Timeshare giant Wyndham Destinations has commissioned a survey, in an attempt to gauge the future prosperity of the timeshare industry in the US. According to the survey of 1,250 Americans, almost half believe they will spend more than $80,000 on holidays during their lifetime. More than half of the people surveyed said they had stayed in a timeshare and a whopping 80% said they had enjoyed the experience. Amongst millennials, 55% said they had stayed in a timeshare and 73% of these had enjoyed their experience. Incredibly, one in four liked it so much, they would consider purchasing a timeshare … Read more

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Hundreds of customers locked out of accounts on Black Friday !

HSBC customers looking to grab a bargain on Black Friday had a nasty shock when they learned that they were locked out of their bank accounts. The HSBC mobile banking system went down last Friday, at the height of the Black Friday sales. It was unfortunate timing for shoppers, who needed to use their online banking apps to take advantage of the Black Friday deals. It is also bad timing, as MP’s announce they are investigating banks and the numerous IT failures reported this year.

Last month, HSBC online banking went down, leaving customers locked out of their bank accounts. … Read more

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