National Solutions - upfront fee timeshare scammer busted

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_152cf00d-3817-51ac-ba79-64ff7f24e708.html

A Florida telemarketer who played a role in a timeshare telemarketing scam that cost victims roughly $6 million has been arrested on an indictment in federal court here, prosecutors said Thursday.

Kathryn G. Garten, 51, of Orlando, worked as a telemarketer for National Solutions and related companies in Orlando. Garten, who used two aliases, and other employees cold-called timeshare owners claiming to have buyers for their property, prosecutors said. They asked for thousands of dollars up front from consumers all over the U.S., Canada and other countries, but failed to sell one timeshare unit, prosecutors claim.

Alleged victims reside in seven of the 38 counties comprising the Southern District of Illinois, where federal prosecutors have developed a specialty in telemarketing cases.

Garten was indicted Nov. 16 on one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud.

The Federal Trade Commission seized the offices and records of National Solutions last year as part of a civil complaint.

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update...

employee gets 14 years in prison and 900k in fines

http://www.bnd.com/2013/11/20/2916305/woman-sentenced-to-14-years-for.html

"Ms. Garten came to her trial driving a new, expensive, luxury automobile. She left after her trial in chains.

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Bye-Bye...

I say 'Good riddance to bad trash!'



"Ms. Garten came to her trial driving a new, expensive, luxury automobile. She left after her trial in chains. Yesterday she appeared in an orange prison uniform and left for her sentence in a Marshal's van."

JOMI said:

I say 'Good riddance to bad trash!'



"Ms. Garten came to her trial driving a new, expensive, luxury automobile. She left after her trial in chains. Yesterday she appeared in an orange prison uniform and left for her sentence in a Marshal's van."

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Hope she enjoys her ocean view.

starting to put the employees in jail now, I like it!

https://thetelegraph.com/news/82723/telemarketer-sentenced-for-role-in-scam-of-illinois-residents

this part is still shocking to me...scamming 2500 people out of 2000+ dollars each. Thats 2500 timeshare owners who found this scam company, and not TUG.

the government has alleged that the overall scam bilked over 2,500 consumers out of at least $6 million, including eight victims in the Southern District of Illinois.

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What baffles me is I continue to hear ads on the radio for "Timeshare Exit Team". A quick search turns up this article: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-laz-timeshare-exit-team-20150812-column.html

Anyone can find this and see where a guy at the LA Times thinks it's sketchy.

you are assuming most people actually do enough research before paying large amounts of money!

sadly, as we have said many times...people do more research on their next big screen TV purchase than they do with anything timeshare related.

plus its easy to believe something you truly want to hear when you are desperate to sell.

TUGBrian said:

this part is still shocking to me...scamming 2500 people out of 2000+ dollars each. Thats 2500 timeshare owners who found this scam company, and not TUG.

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They say the best two days in a boat owners life are the day you buy and the day you sell. I suspect that the same thing can be said of many timeshare owners

So there are two times when finding TUG would be beneficial.. Before you buy and before you sell. What shocks me is that so many folks buy and pay the big prices that include thousands of dollars in marketing costs without consulting the internet... I understand if they bought before the dawn of the internet, but wasnt TUG up and running even before the internet was available to most of us on AOL?

I find it shocking that so many folks do so little research before entering into a timeshare deal... both on the way in and the way out. and its what the scammers count on, Both groups... the ones that do what National Solutions did and the ones that sell the product from the sales rooms at the resorts

But even folks that want to do the right thing and research before they buy or sell are overwhelmed by the information and mis information on the internet. and they are right to do so. It may be shocking to you that more people havent found TUG but there are some people that wouldnt believe what they read here anyway. The fact is that just because you read it on the internet doesnt mean that its true, anyone can throw up a website, even me, and even on tug its hard to distinguish fact from opinion and good information from the bad thats presented here


As nice as it is to see our tax dollars in action, taking down an operation like National Solutions, I suspect is nothing but a game of wack-a-mole that they are playing. Wack one scam artist and another will pop up in their place, bigger and more profitable. If it wasnt so damend serious it would be funny to watch. as it is its like a car crash, we cant resist rubber necking. Folks really are up against it when they are ready to sell their timeshares, and until there are more options like Wyndhams Ovation Program there will be con artists to take advantage of the situation. but even Ovation doesnt work if the seller has a mega $$ loan against a mini $$ product. Theres the real problem Id like to see the cops address. When the mortgage brokers were doing the same thing with home mortgages we called it mortgage fraud why isnt it fraud when Wyndham and the others do the same thing with timeshares.

Always remember what demographic is targeted..

TUGBrian said:

this part is still shocking to me...scamming 2500 people out of 2000+ dollars each. Thats 2500 timeshare owners who found this scam company, and not TUG.

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These telemarketing scams target a demographic that is often not internet savvy. I recently spoke at a retirement community in South Florida, and probably a third of the people in the audience still had basic cell phones. Just based on my own experience with my in-laws, they won't touch a computer. On the flip side, my own parents are online daily. However, even though they are internet regulars- I don't know if they have the comfort level to sift through search results and really investigate something like this. These telemarketing operations change identities constantly, often shrouding themselves in names that produce tons of generic and non-relevant search results.

However, the tide has turned. Most of the people I talk to at least are aware of timeshare telemarketing scams now, so I think the window of opportunity for these scams is gradually closing. There will always be a handful that take the bait, but hopefully within the next five years the number of victims will continue to diminish..

The saddest part of this battle is that some developers continue to fail to inform their owner base of the risks. The number of resort managers who still hide their head in the sand and are afraid to mention the word "resale" amazes me. Just a simple insert in the m. fee letter could save countless victims.

indeed, that is likely a big majority of victims.

however every week we get emails from folks asking if they have heard of "new xyz random scammer company"...and even after explaining to them under no uncertain terms they are dealing with a scammer...their answer is always "but youve never actually heard of this particular company...they could be legit"?

some folks just want to believe despite all evidence to the contrary that the snake oil works, and are clearly willing to pay top dollar for it.

trying to run apparently...glad they caught him!

https://gulfnews.com/news/asia/phil...e-fraud-arrested-in-the-philippines-1.2251119

They need to go jail, fined, revoke their bonds, take away their passport and ordered to repay everyone they scam.

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