A DVC member scamming these poor victims, wow

[Jillpie]

Absolutely incredible...

Ohio woman arrested for Disney vacation scam
WRITTEN BY TIM KRASNIEWSKI | 08 JANUARY 2014
POSTED IN GENERAL DVC NEWS






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A Dayton, Ohio area Disney Vacation Club member faces multiple charges after failing to arrange a $14,000 Thanksgiving trip to Walt Disney World.

39-year old Lisa M. Andres faces theft charges after fraudulently accepting money for a Walt Disney World Vacation. The Dayton Daily News cites a police report in which Andres told victims she could "book vacations at a discounted rate because she belonged to a Disney Vacation Club timeshare."

Andres allegedly took $14,305.80 from Kristina Martinez in exchange for accommodations at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, theme park passes, Deluxe Dining Plan and airfare over the Thanksgiving holiday. Only after departing for the airport did Martinez learn that there were no airline or hotel reservations waiting.

Another apparent victim--Pam Zale--claims to have lost $5,000 in a similar scam. Zale arrived in Florida to find accommodations different than what was promised, no meal plan and no park tickets.

In both cases, Andres promised to make restitution but only repaid a fraction of the cash. Zale claims Andres has scammed at least 50 others.

Renting Disney Vacation Club points is a popular method of securing Disney at reduced prices. The DVC owner uses timeshare points to make a reservation in the name of a non-member, and the parties agree upon a price for the transaction. The Walt Disney Company typically does not accept any liability in these private transactions since the owner retains full control of the reservation.

Prior to her arrest on the theft charges, Andres was in court to plead guilty to four counts of forgery related to cash withdrawls from a disabled relative's Social Security benefits account.

Andres has been arraigned on the theft charges with bail set at $25,000. The Butler County Prosecutor's Office continues to meet with victims and assess the extent of her crimes.

Source: Dayton Daily News

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[disney junky]

Is she really a DVC owner? It's hard to tell from the article.

 

[bwvBound]

Link to source article: http://www.daytondailynews.com/news...woman-accused-of-scamming-families-out/ncfYL/

 

[DVC Dude]

This is a sad and rare occurrence as most transactions are fine.

The tip off should have been the flights as I have never seen anyone advertise that. I wonder if it was on eBay.

I hope Disney does not start to crack down on rentals.

 

[Chuck S]

I'm guessing the people that were scammed had no previous DVC Rental experience that they would hand over that kind of $ without a verifiable reservation. How very sad for these victims.

EDIT: Just checked the Deed site for Orange County, Florida. I didn't any WDW based deeds issued to a Lisa Andres. She may not have even been a DVC member.

 

[lorie13]

She must have been some smooth talker to have two dentists, who I am sure are highly educated hand her over $14K without any type of reservation or confirmation number.

Chances of her being a member are slim in my opinion and I hope that it comes out as it gives all DVC members who rent their points a bad rap.

A quick check of OC recorded docs does not show her having any DVC deeds.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

She must have been some smooth talker to have two dentists, who I am sure are highly educated hand her over $14K without any type of reservation or confirmation number.

Chances of her being a member are slim in my opinion and I hope that it comes out as it gives all DVC members who rent their points a bad rap.

A quick check of OC recorded docs does not show her having any DVC deeds.

As far as I know, there is no degree for common sense.

Sent from my IPad using DisBoards.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'm guessing the people that were scammed had no previous DVC Rental experience that they would hand over that kind of $ without a verifiable reservation. How very sad for these victims.

EDIT: Just checked the Deed site for Orange County, Florida. I didn't any WDW based deeds issued to a Lisa Andres. She may not have even been a DVC member.

She must have been some smooth talker to have two dentists, who I am sure are highly educated hand her over $14K without any type of reservation or confirmation number.

Chances of her being a member are slim in my opinion and I hope that it comes out as it gives all DVC members who rent their points a bad rap.

A quick check of OC recorded docs does not show her having any DVC deeds.

Maybe she owned at VB or HHI? Those wouldn't show up on the Orange County site.

 

[jillgunter]

Thats really sad, I hope they are able to get some money back.

 

[Missyrose]

I just wished we knew where she scammed people. There are people freaking out at the idea of renting now in some of my non-DVC Facebook groups.

 

[DizBub]

Maybe she owned at VB or HHI? Those wouldn't show up on the Orange County site.

Maybe she doesn't own a contract. A couple years ago there was a thread on these boards about a woman scamming people pretty much just like this. She was using her aunt's DVC membership.

 

[disneynutz]

There isn't any evidence that the person owned DVC or that a reservation was ever made.

Bill

 

[twinsouvenirs]

Wow--although I cannot imagine parting with that kind of $ before I saw a reservation number and checked it. When we rented points we went through the Timeshare Store and they 'escrow' the funds until check-in. We also looked up our owner to make sure she owned points.

 

[weswife]

EEEKkkkkkkk!!!

WOW!!! What a sad story!

 

[rlduvall]

I remember when this happened to our own fellow dis'er DMKEDM. We all felt so horrible about it.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1250604&highlight=fraud

 

[LSchrow]

This is a sad and rare occurrence as most transactions are fine.

The tip off should have been the flights as I have never seen anyone advertise that. I wonder if it was on eBay.

I hope Disney does not start to crack down on rentals.

it's unlikely she advertised on ebay, as all the victims were "local", and at least some paid in cash. however, it appears they didn't know her personally (haven't read any mention of her being a co-worker, friend, etc).

i agree: the vast majority of DVC rentals go perfectly. this woman apparently didn't even book reservations, so WDW and DVC would have no involvement.

unfortunately, it's unlikely all those people (over 50) will get very much of their money back

 

[jimandami]

There isn't any evidence that the person owned DVC or that a reservation was ever made.

Bill

Although if you read about the second victim (Zale), it does seem that some sort of reservation was made because it says the "accomodations were different than what was promised?"

 

[rlduvall]

Although if you read about the second victim (Zale), it does seem that some sort of reservation was made because it says the "accomodations were different than what was promised?"

I read the article and it was 2 small hotel rooms. Easy enough to set up without being a DVC owner. What a jerk - not you, the suspect.

 

[jimandami]

I read the article and it was 2 small hotel rooms. Easy enough to set up without being a DVC owner. What a jerk - not you, the suspect.

Who you calling a jerk??

I just read the entire article and that makes sense. That is so sad....even though most of us can't imagine leaving for a trip that costs that much money without confirmation numbers, I can see how some people just get busy and want people to take of details for them so might make that mistake. We have rented from many DVC owners and always had great experiences...it's a shame one dishonest person sheds a negative light on the whole thing!

 

[rkold]

This is very sad, but it also sounds like the DVC scam was just one of many other scams this woman had going on. From the article it sounded like to me she hit up people from local groups she belonged to or just people she was chatting with in the area. I wouldn't be surprised if she was not a DVC owner.