The gang of fraudsters that’s about to do its share of time
JUSTICE has finally caught up with a gang of timeshare crooks I warned against in 2012 and 2013. Victims were cold-called and told buyers had been found for their unwanted timeshare property, but fees had to be paid up front before the deal could go ahead.
Once the fees arrived, the gang claimed the buyer had pulled out.
The same victims were then contacted again by the fraudsters who used a variety of names for themselves and their companies. Posing as a completely new business, they said that for a further fee they could recover cash lost in the first part of the scam.
Finally, the gang contacted victims a third time, claiming to be from the Spanish authorities, and saying that all the lost money would be refunded – but again, there were up-front costs to be paid.
Warwickshire Police and the West Mercia Fraud Squad say that the fraud operated from 2012 to 2015 and raked in more than £875,000 from 470 victims. Nine members of the gang were convicted at Stafford Crown Court on charges involving fraud and money laundering.
Ringleader Brian Carr, 31, from Redditch, was convicted of conspiracy to defraud and perverting the course of justice.
He was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison and banned from acting as a company director for ten years.
His brother Daniel, 24, was jailed for four years for conspiracy to defraud.
Brian Carr was a director of Simple Property Marketing Solutions Limited.
I sounded the alarm in 2012 when his company told a reader of The Mail on Sunday it had found a buyer who would pay £7,000 for his Malta timeshare if he paid fees of £995.
The reader smelt a rat – the £2,000 timeshare was in Florida.
Police will now start proceedings against the gang to recover victims’ losses.