posted 29th May 2025
Are you worried about being scammed by a timeshare exit company? Or are you concerned that you already have? If so, our red flag guide below explains how to spot the traps and what to do if you have already paid them your money.
1. Cold Calls, Emails and Text Messages.
Timeshare data is bought and sold on the black market, dark web, and traded by criminal organisations. This means that your personal data, including your name, address, contact details, past or present timeshare ownership details, and the scams you have already fallen for, is readily available and bought and sold for thousands of pounds.
Many of the most 'successful' timeshare scam companies will recycle your data internally and attempt to continually scam the same people by calling back from a different number and different name.
This particular scam involves the perpetrators continually offering to recover the money from the previous scam when, in fact, the same people are actually taking your money. This perpetual cycle is known as Recovery or Boiler Room Fraud.
You can absolutely guarantee that any cold contact regarding timeshare ownership or maintenance fees is a scam and should be avoided at all costs.
2. Video Calls and Home Visits.
The first cold call you often receive is from what is known as an 'opener'. It's their job to generate appointments for the salespeople who conduct the video appointments or home visits.
The 'opener' will use any means necessary to hook you into a conversation with them. At present, the 'hook' is fictitious outstanding maintenance fee debts, a lack of papers proving legal termination, timeshare company takeovers and debt collectors visiting people's homes.
99% of the people making these calls and conducting the video or home presentations are former timeshare salespeople with experience in misleading consumers.
Similarly to a timeshare presentation, a video or home meeting is over four hours long, intimidating, pressuring, and designed to get people to make an immediate decision.
It usually starts with what is known as a 'warm-up,' where the perpetrator attempts to befriend their victim and talks about their family. They often show photos and trinkets and do their best to create a bond and level of trust that leads people into a false sense of security.
The criminals conducting the video calls or home visits will give false names, not show any identification, and hide their cars out of sight, fearing they will be identified.
3. The Story.
We have a saying here at the National Timeshare Helpline, " The storyteller will always be different, but the ending will be the same".
In a desperate effort to maintain their illegal income, timeshare scam companies and their employees consistently find ways of telling a different story, usually based on fear or greed, that results in victims paying and losing more money.
In some cases, such as the Central Paralegals scam, perpetrators pretend to be lawyers. In the case of Dispute Resolution Services, they pretend to work on behalf of trustees acting as third-party agents between the creditor and the bailiffs.
Another common scam technique is to lead people to believe that they are still on a 'timeshare register', that they still own the rights to the property, and that unless they have a 'notarised' document, they are still liable for historic maintenance fees. Again, this is another FAIRY TALE designed to scare victims into believing they are better paying to fix the problem rather than have bailiffs knocking on the door.
Always remember that people contacting you out of the blue regarding your timeshare mean you financial and emotional harm. That will not tell you the truth, and do not have your best intentions at heart.
4. The Ending.
Unlike the story, the ending never changes when you deal with a scam company. No service is provided, and in most cases, it was never actually needed, and people lose thousands of pounds in the process.
Fortunately, we manage to help many victims before it's too late. For others, it becomes the beginning of fighting for the money to be returned by the bank and tidying up any loose ends relating to timeshare ownership.
Are you fed up of being scammed and require real results? If so, read below.
5. How Can National Timeshare Helpline Help?
Our FCA-regulated authority sets us apart from the competition. Our unique free timeshare helpline has helped thousands of timeshare owners avoid scams, and thousands of others regain their money. Over the last ten years, we have carried out over 5,000 no-upfront-fee timeshare exits, reclaimed over £10 million in missold timeshare compensation, and assisted scam victims in recovering hundreds of thousands of pounds.
We hope that you have found this article useful. If you have any further questions, please get in touch.