Singapore police said that a 40-year-old man will be charged in court on Monday for his suspected involvement in a series of timeshare recovery scams.
As per the police, the alleged accused has conned more than 20 people, who were the owners of timeshare memberships of approximately S$600,000, by making them believe that he or his agents would help them to recover the money from the termination of their timeshare memberships.
The series of offence took place between 2014 and 2017 when the owners paid various fees and charges but did not recover any money from their investments.
The news release, published by Singapore Police Force stated that the alleged accused was charged with 17 counts of various offences, including cheating offences in February and March 2018. On Monday, 126 more charges, including cheating, using forged documents, and possessing counterfeit seals and stamps to commit forgery, will be considered against him during the court proceedings.
In addition to that police said people should act carefully when they receive unsolicited calls from companies or any person claiming to help them recover the money from their timeshare memberships. They also advised people to follow a few steps to avoid such situation and these are:
- Be wary when an unknown person calls you regarding your timeshare membership.
- Refrain from providing any personal information or information on your timeshare membership to the caller.
- Conduct background checks on the company's track record before engaging its services.
- Check with the timeshare developer if the caller was authorised by the timeshare developer to deal in any way with the timeshare membership.
- Request for a copy of the documentation on their proposals, representations, contracts and agreements. Be wary if the company is reluctant to provide you with such documentation and only provides verbal promises.
- Exercise extra caution especially if you are asked to make upfront payments with the promise of assisting you to recover your monies.
As per the Singapore Penal Code, Section 415 states that "Whoever, by deceiving any person, whether or not such deception was the sole or main inducement, fraudulently or dishonestly induces the person so deceived to deliver any property to any person, or to consent that any person shall retain any property, or intentionally induces the person so deceived to do or omit to do anything which he would not do or omit to do if he were not so deceived, and which act or omission causes or is likely to cause damage or harm to any person in body, mind, reputation or property, is said to 'cheat'."
