561-408-2457

Why does this number call me? They called my cell phone but I did not answer. Next they call my work number and I get paged by my company I work for. I answered it and she said she was from Newport (something) and wanted to sell me stuff related to timeshare and asked me to copy down some available dates before we started.

I said 'wait a minute' - and I asked her where she got my Hilton info from and she says Hilton gave their company my personal information. She knew I was a HGVC member.

TOTALLY - I mean TOTALLY unprofessional Hilton.

chickensoop said:

Why does this number call me? They called my cell phone but I did not answer. Next they call my work number and I get paged by my company I work for. I answered it and she said she was from Newport (something) and wanted to sell me stuff related to timeshare and asked me to copy down some available dates before we started.

I said 'wait a minute' - and I asked her where she got my Hilton info from and she says Hilton gave their company my personal information. She knew I was a HGVC member.

TOTALLY - I mean TOTALLY unprofessional Hilton.

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I have no idea about that phone number... But are you certain they got your info from HGVC? In most cases your purchase of a timeshare results in a Deed, which is filed with the county. That becomes a public record. Once i bought my TS in Vegas, i started getting lots of call from companies trying to sell me other timeshares or travel clubs. Its probably not hard to figure out that if you own a unit at particular address, you are a member of the associated Timeshare.

Every time i purchase a house, once the sale become public record i start getting call from people selling water softeners and burglar Alarms..

She stated she got my information from Hilton. She stated this 'Newport' company has been a partner with Hilton for 15 years. She knows I have been a timeshare member for the last few years. She did say Hilton, not HGVC but she knew of my timeshare and wanted to sell my something, on one of several dates I was to copy down.

I just called 561-408-2457 to see what happens. It rings and rings and rings and nobody answers.

Makes sense I guess if she got my info from public Deeds. She was vague, and trying to control the conversation. Looking at my deed, my phone numbers are posted.

If these scammers can get personal phone numbers from public deed info then the USA privacy act falls short of the Canadian privacy act.

More likely they got it from the county property appraiser or tax collector public records.
Anyone can go online to one of these agencies and search keyword "Hilton" to list owners.
With that list, it's not difficult to associate names+addresses with phone numbers.

If I wanted to, I could find every owner at HGVC Seaworld for the fun of it.
We got a friend's mailing address thru the tax collector's public records.

With such records, you can find when your neighbor bought their house & how much they paid.
You can also find out what else they own and often, be referred to their recorded deeds.

When I bought my last TS, I got all this and a photo of the seller's front door (Google Earth).
.

Corporations are hacked *all the time*. For every Target and Home Depot hack there are 1000s that don't get reported and worse the companies aren't even aware they've been hacked. Once hacked, malware is installed and they steal whatever information they can -- phone numbers, addresses, account numbers, credit cards, etc., bundle up the resulting information and sell it on the black market. Also, don't discount sites like TUG running over 20 year old technology which is child's play to hack. Always provide the least amount of personal information on sites like this and don't reuse passwords -- just assume it's being compromised, because it most likely is. Sorry if I sound alarmist, but that's the reality of the world we live in.

Also, employees of companies can easily steal information and sell it on the black market for a little extra money. I knew a consultant for a "Big 5" consulting company who went to Club Fed for this -- sold customer information to undercover FBI (he had a gambling problem and needed the money). Like I say, just assume non of your information is secure, therefore always provide the least amount of information necessary to anyone, secure it as best you can (e.g. two factor auth, strong passwords), and monitor your accounts (e.g Text/email alerts, credit monitoring service), block/report violations of Do Not Call list, etc.

rfc0001 said:

Corporations are hacked *all the time*. For every Target and Home Depot hack there are 1000s that don't get reported and worse the companies aren't even aware they've been hacked. Once hacked, malware is installed and they steal whatever information they can -- phone numbers, addresses, account numbers, credit cards, etc., bundle up the resulting information and sell it on the black market. Also, don't discount sites like TUG running over 20 year old technology which is child's play to hack. Always provide the least amount of personal information on sites like this and don't reuse passwords -- just assume it's being compromised, because it most likely is. Sorry if I sound alarmist, but that's the reality of the world we live in.

Also, employees of companies can easily steal information and sell it on the black market for a little extra money. I knew a consultant for a "Big 5" consulting company who went to Club Fed for this -- sold customer information to undercover FBI (he had a gambling problem and needed the money). Like I say, just assume non of your information is secure, therefore always provide the least amount of information necessary to anyone, secure it as best you can (e.g. two factor auth, strong passwords), and monitor your accounts (e.g Text/email alerts, credit monitoring service), block/report violations of Do Not Call list, etc.

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All true, it's never a bad idea to protect your personal information online as much as you can. But like the poster before you said, no hacking is necessary to get the contact info for timeshare owners because the deeds are all public records. Timeshare scammers/opportunists have been scouring those ever since the first timeshares were sold.

SueDonJ said:

All true, it's never a bad idea to protect your personal information online as much as you can. But like the poster before you said, no hacking is necessary to get the contact info for timeshare owners because the deeds are all public records. Timeshare scammers/opportunists have been scouring those ever since the first timeshares were sold.

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I doubt they would have gotten her work number from public sources. I've gotten calls under the same guise (they know I'm an HGVC owner) and I have an unlisted phone number. That said, it's not impossible to correlate Address with unlisted phone numbers -- all it takes is *any* company I provide my phone number to selling the address/phone list to a "third party" (grey market) under the terms of their Privacy Policy.

rfc0001 said:

I doubt they would have gotten her work number from public sources.

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Unless she said too much about herself on Facebook or Linked-In.

Using Linked-In, a state directory of licensed medical professionals,
and the Mass-Gen Hospital Directory, I found out where my TS seller
worked and the phone # of his department... to verify that he was legit.
.

chickensoop said:

She stated she got my information from Hilton. She stated this 'Newport' company has been a partner with Hilton for 15 years. She knows I have been a timeshare member for the last few years. She did say Hilton, not HGVC but she knew of my timeshare and wanted to sell my something, on one of several dates I was to copy down.

I just called 561-408-2457 to see what happens. It rings and rings and rings and nobody answers.

Makes sense I guess if she got my info from public Deeds. She was vague, and trying to control the conversation. Looking at my deed, my phone numbers are posted.

If these scammers can get personal phone numbers from public deed info then the USA privacy act falls short of the Canadian privacy act.

Click to expand...

They lie.......a LOT. As a former salesman I can tell you that there are lists compiled that will tell someone who lives in your home, where they work, where they have worked, how often they've changed jobs, dates of birth, when you purchased your home, what you paid for your home, approx. value now, how you save for retirement, approx savings, approx income et......There are lists that have specific data and lists that contain general data. AND YES, I could get your employer from lists I purchased which would include your employers phone number. I'm telling you, it's scary the information that could be purchased. Now, consider that I've been out of sales for over 21 YEARS. Just think with all the advancements the information someone can get about you!

I suspect any timeshare purchase is registered somewhere. They don't have to get that information from HGVC. If you're purchase is a matter of public record on some form at some county or in some government office, then that information is available to the companies that compile all of these lists. The scammers will buy these lists and, like any good con artist, will have just enough information to make you believe they represent the company they're calling you about.

Ignore them, hang up on them, block them or whatever you have to do. Since buying our first timeshare in 1998 we've been plagued by these scammers. I even had a co-worker who initially bought a developer week from Westgate but rescinded after I spoke with her and showed her resale prices for the same resort on E-bay. 6 months after their purchase but rescinded sale, they began getting these types of calls. They were on a public list somewhere that the scammers had picked up.

As the lists that are being used are typically 6 months to a year old in information, the one thing I've found that slows them down is to tell them "I sold that timeshare several months back." They appologize and say they'll update their list. This actually has worked at slowing them down for about 6 months at a time.

Telling them to put you on a do-not-call list or the federal/state DNC's has never worked for me. They just ignore me and hang up. If they believe you're not a target, they take you off the list they're working from because they want someone they can con out of their money. If they believe you're not an owner, then you're no longer a target........until they work through that list and buy the next one.

But it's likely NOT Hilton selling them this information.

I get calls and emails from Wyndam all the time. I do not own any Wyndam timeshares, but have exchanged into a few. They address me as a Wyndam owner, I am not, I don't reply to the emails or phone calls! Very odd way of doing business!

We use Ooma for our home phone service. Bought it at Costco. It's a device the size of an answering machine that connects to the Internet. It uses your normal phone lines inside your house replacing your phone company (VOIP for the tech savy). Up front cost was just north of $100. Monthly I pay required federal/state/local taxes only, about $5. Unlimited calls each month.

The neat part about Ooma is it's "Blacklists". I just log onto my account, add 561-408-2457 to the blacklist, and the call will never ring my phone again. It's like the phone number no longer exists. Any time we get the random number that calls more than a few times, never leaves a message, etc. we add it to the blacklist. Problem solved.

Best money I've ever spent.

After several years of having Google Voice (GV) point our home # to our Magic Jack+ with OK, but not great call quality, I purchased an Obihai Obi202 VOIP interface to experiment with. It's open and can take several different VOIP providers both free and paid & is designed to work with FAX and modems should you use a provider which is equipped.

What is great about the Obi is it is a one time cost of around $75 and Google Voice (which is free) works directly with it. You can do the same type of call blocking as described with the Ooma, add multiple lines/services (up to four simultaneously) and the call quality is crystal clear, plugging our home phones into like we did with the MJ+. The only downside is Google does not do 911 service, but they have a deal with another provider which will do e911 service, providing your address for emergency responders for $15/year.

GV blocks those unwanted calls just nicely. Our Magicjack+ is now surplus which I might repurpose on the road or just let expire.

fyi..

Thanks ALL for the info. My HGVC deed contains my cell phone number as my home number, so they always call my cell phone. We cut our land line years ago since it only had sales and scammers calling it. But now, since these time share resorts can spoof fake numbers, they can call cell phones without penalty.

My android phone blocks numbers - once they call, but every week it is a new number to block. No big deal until they have me paged at work....