Help - Was Scammed!

[c0reyann]

I hope law enforcement catches him, locks him up, and throws away the key. Butttt with our criminal justice system, he will likely just get a slap on the wrist, community service, and will just start a new Facebook profile and resume his scamming. Hopefully your credit card company will allow you to reverse the charges.

Someone else is already suing him for stealing $300K from them so I have a feeling that this may just add on to the mess he's got himself in. Who knows at this point.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Yes, I've filed a police report. He is an owner but only has 100 points through Aulani. At this point there's over 3000 points he rented.

Do you have his actual contact information, and does he reside within the United States? That magnitude of scam (assuming he averaged even $15 a point he netted over $45,000) might get someone’s attention. Everyone who was scammed should be reporting this to their local law enforcement agencies, and the police agency of whatever state he lives in.

 

[c0reyann]

Do you have his actual contact information, and does he reside within the United States? That magnitude of scam (assuming he averaged even $15 a point he netted over $45,000) might get someone’s attention. Everyone who was scammed should be reporting this to their local law enforcement agencies, and the police agency of whatever state he lives in.

Right now the total is just shy of $60K and is 17 groups for a total over 3500 points. The only contract we can find in his name is for 100 points at Aulani. His Aunt has a 450 Polynesian contract. He posted in a few groups he had 1000 Aulani points he needed to 'spend'. He was renting for $17/point.

I have his name and email, and he is in the US. Address is unclear as he's given many different ones.

 

[MICKIMINI]

I'm so sorry for you and the others who were scammed! I can't imagine losing a vacation and your hard earned money. Hopefully your bank will stand behind you and law enforcement will get this scammer...

 

[Sandisw]

Right now the total is just shy of $60K and is 17 groups for a total over 3500 points. The only contract we can find in his name is for 100 points at Aulani. His Aunt has a 450 Polynesian contract. He posted in a few groups he had 1000 Aulani points he needed to 'spend'. He was renting for $17/point.

I have his name and email, and he is in the US. Address is unclear as he's given many different ones.

The only thing about this is that he may have points owned under other avenues like a trust or LLC. He could be an associate on others contracts too and be authorized. So, not finding more personally may not give you all you needed

That is why law enforcement will be the only one who can sort out if he really offered more points than what he has legal authority over to rent.

Regardless, no one can offer something, get paid, and not deliver it so hopefully, people do end up getting money back.

 

[c0reyann]

The only thing about this is that he may have points owned under other avenues like a trust or LLC. He could be an associate on others contracts too and be authorized. So, not finding more personally may not give you all you needed

That is why law enforcement will be the only one who can sort out if he really offered more points than what he has legal authority over to rent.

Regardless, no one can offer something, get paid, and not deliver it so hopefully, people do end up getting money back.

He claims this but no one can find his LLC or his family other than the two we found. They *may* exist but he won't show proof or even say what resorts.

Many of his reservations were also beyond the 7 months so right now he'd have to have 'home' resorts of Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, AKL, Saratoga Springs and Grand Californian along with Aulani. 1500 alone just at AKL.

 

[Chuck S]

If he gave you the name of the supposed LLC, could be checked through the Orange County Comptroller's office for the Florida based resorts.

 

[gharter]

Agree with contacting law enforcement. I would also contact your credit card company if your paypal account is paid by credit card.
In the past, in threads on other sites with issues like this, paypal has been very slow to act, if at all.

Good luck.

 

[pianomanzano]

Ooof, sorry OP. I just read some of the posts from what I think is the same FB group (similar story about 100 AUL pts), but didn't know the magnitude of the con. Hope you get your money back somehow!

 

[Pyotr]

He claims this but no one can find his LLC or his family other than the two we found. They *may* exist but he won't show proof or even say what resorts.

Many of his reservations were also beyond the 7 months so right now he'd have to have 'home' resorts of Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, AKL, Saratoga Springs and Grand Californian along with Aulani. 1500 alone just at AKL.

Did you look his name up on Sunbiz? You should be able to find any LLC with his name attached.

 

[Sandisw]

He claims this but no one can find his LLC or his family other than the two we found. They *may* exist but he won't show proof or even say what resorts.

Many of his reservations were also beyond the 7 months so right now he'd have to have 'home' resorts of Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, AKL, Saratoga Springs and Grand Californian along with Aulani. 1500 alone just at AKL.

That could very well all be true but he still can’t rent people a reservation and not actually book it for them.

So, even if he were to prove to have access to all he says he has access to, the bottom line is you and others paid for reservations that were either never made or made and canceled.

I really hope all of you can find a way to get your money back but also find a way to salvage the trips.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

not sure DVC can or will do anything, they likely won't since it's a private transaction. The guy may not have actually had any points to rent. File a police report.

 

[c0reyann]

Someone we found last night flew to Hawaii in January and didn't have a reservation. In total with the lost money and how much it cost them to rebook everything once there it cost them $20K.

Right now we are at 20 groups who bought into his scam and over $80K in money taken.

I spoke to the police this morning and they're doing a full investigation. At least he was dumb enough to do this under his real name with his phone number etc. that proves it is him attached.

 

[pianomanzano]

I wonder if it's worth pursuing something at the federal level (i.e. getting the FBI involved). If it's potentially as much as 80k and the methods of contacting and sending/receiving funds, could it constitute interstate mail/wire fraud? Not a legal expert by any means but sounds like it would fit this situation.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

80k seems kind of low to kick it up to Federal. Chances are anyone who paid money won't get it back, though

 

[RoseGold]

This whole story doesn't make sense to me. You'd know instantly whether the reservation was valid or not.

I've rented many times, and no money has changed hands until the reservation shows up in MDE, verified by Disney. Of course, they could still cancel after you paid. But, if that had happened, law enforcement would know exactly who this is, because there was a valid reservation at one point.

 

[piglet1979]

I spoke to the police this morning and they're doing a full investigation. At least he was dumb enough to do this under his real name with his phone number etc. that proves it is him attached.

I am so glad that the police are looking into it. We had an issue with PayPal where someone used our account to buy Iphones. We dealt with our bank and made a police report. We had an address but our local police said they would send it to NYC (where the address was from) but most likely nothing would be done because they had more pressing things to do.

PayPal was a pain to deal with. I don't think we ever were able to get ahold of them and if when did they would give us another number to call. We canceled the account after this and never use them again.

I hope you are able to get your money back and are able to still go on vacation.

 

[c0reyann]

This whole story doesn't make sense to me. You'd know instantly whether the reservation was valid or not.

I've rented many times, and no money has changed hands until the reservation shows up in MDE, verified by Disney. Of course, they could still cancel after you paid. But, if that had happened, law enforcement would know exactly who this is, because there was a valid reservation at one point.

He kept claiming "known" DVC glitches to everyone. The families who showed up to Hawaii he claimed it was a massive DVC glitch they were aware of and told her that she is getting a check from Disney to reimburse her for what she had to pay out in addition once she got there to rebook rooms.

 

[pianomanzano]

This whole story doesn't make sense to me. You'd know instantly whether the reservation was valid or not.

I've rented many times, and no money has changed hands until the reservation shows up in MDE, verified by Disney. Of course, they could still cancel after you paid. But, if that had happened, law enforcement would know exactly who this is, because there was a valid reservation at one point.

Unfortunately on some of the FB groups there are many first time renters who pay upfront prior to even receiving a confirmation number! In the particular group where this occurred, there's a post about a scam almost once a month. The one time I rented out on FB, the renter trusted me and paid upfront (which actually worried me and made me think the renter was a scammer who was going to do a charge back).

 

[c0reyann]

I am so glad that the police are looking into it. We had an issue with PayPal where someone used our account to buy Iphones. We dealt with our bank and made a police report. We had an address but our local police said they would send it to NYC (where the address was from) but most likely nothing would be done because they had more pressing things to do.

PayPal was a pain to deal with. I don't think we ever were able to get ahold of them and if when did they would give us another number to call. We canceled the account after this and never use them again.

I hope you are able to get your money back and are able to still go on vacation.

I'm thankful my police took me seriously and are actually working on it. I think they expected him to have used a fake name/phone number but he didn't.

I'm trying to rebook but so far haven't been successful. Fingers are crossed that when the 7 month window hits for us on (date removed) we can get the room we wanted at XXX (resort removed) since we're still on waitlists everywhere.