United States - FTC and Florida Attorney General Sue Timeshare Rental/Resale Operation for Deception

The FTC and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi brought a joint legal action charging violators of the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule Act and Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act against a timeshare rental/resale telemarketing business and its owner for allegedly deceiving thousands of consumers throughout the country into paying up to $2,000 based on false promises that they had buyers or renters lined up for consumers' timeshare properties, and then failing to deliver promised refunds. At the plaintiffs' request, a federal court halted the operation and froze the defendants' assets pending further litigation. According to the complaint, the defendants cold-called timeshare property owners and falsely promised they had renters or buyers who would pay a specific dollar amount for the consumers' properties. The defendants promised to fully refund consumers' fees, which ranged from $500 to $2,000, if they did not rent or sell the timeshares as promised, or if consumers asked for their money back within a certain time period. They allegedly told some consumers that they would receive the proceeds from their rentals or sales before or shortly after the charges to the consumers' credit cards became due.  As alleged in the complaint, consumers who were charged fees by the defendants did not obtain renters, buyers, or refunds. In limited instances, the defendants offered consumers a small portion of their money back, but most often they denied refund requests, contending they had fulfilled their agreement by placing an ad on their website.