CASEY: 'I was supposed to get all this money back - I haven't gotten a dime'

[mahatmakanejeeves]

This had been in Personal Finance, but that was the wrong group.

CASEY: ‘I was supposed to get all this money back – I haven’t gotten a dime'

An elderly Roanoke County woman was scammed for more than $40,000 by two men who promised to sell her South Carolina timeshare if she paid them advance fees. Last week, two suspects linked to the companies she paid were indicted on federal charges in California, in what authorities allege was a 10-year long nationwide scam that defrauded hundreds of senior citizens of $4.5 million.

Dan Casey 10 hrs ago

Last week in Los Angeles, federal prosecutors indicted a couple of characters in a 10-year-long scheme the feds allege has targeted senior citizens who own vacation timeshares. That case appears to have an interesting but sad local connection.

Allegedly, Michael Alexi Dragunov, of Los Angeles, and Christopher Michael Lang,of Hays, Kansas, operated the scam nationally, via phone calls and emails, and conned $4.5 million from victims.

According to federal court documents, the duo made calls across the U.S., identifying themselves under dozens of aliases, and as working for at least four different companies they created and registered in California, Florida and Tennessee. According to those documents, two of the companies were Paramount Media LLC and Premier Marketing LLC.

The indictment charges Dragunov and Lang targeted senior citizens who owned vacation timeshares. Posing under aliases such as “Gene Andrew,” “Scott Graham” and others, the two men allegedly offered to re-sell timeshares for elderly owners who paid money up front, ostensibly for advertising the sales.

{snip}

Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in California, said Dragunov is being held in a Los Angeles jail without bond. Lang was released after posting $120,000 bond.

Both men pleaded not guilty. Their trial is scheduled for Sept. 5, McEvoy added.

Dan Casey [phone]
[e-mail]
@dancaseysblog

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. ....

[OnlinePoker]

2. Honestly, she's lucky she only lost $40k

If she'd bought a real timeshare, the loss could have been north of $100k and no way to get out of it.

[oldfart73]

3. AARP timeshare scam reselling scam warning

On January 3, 2023, received a call from My Timeshare Sales Experts in Florida. They had a buyer for our timeshare in N.C. We have a double unit and sale price was $32,900.00. I was told I would have to pay for legal fees for $950.00. However, over next seven days I was getting calls for various other fees. These fees totaled $13,150.00. This amount included $2900.00 in taxes for the sale of timeshare. On the 10th, I got a call saying they were going to deliver my check by FedEx in 10 minutes but they wanted another $3500.00 or I would not get my check. I told him I did not have any more money. He got very nasty and aggressive on the phone. At this point I cancelled the sale and stated I wanted a refund. I also have a letter from the president of company saying if sale did not occur I would get a full refund I was told that I had to wait 60 days for refund. When 60 days were up I started calling the numbers I had. I was getting voice messages to leave a number. No one called back, never answered my emails. In my searches I discovered they have changed their name of company and one of the phone numbers goes to home improvement. Other names are TimesharesTimeshares, Smart Timeshare Owner. All of these have the same address 1060 Woodcock Road, Suite 62867 in Orlando, Florida. ([e-mail])