What to do if you have been scammed.  Read to the End!

 

 

Now What?  Take a deep breath.  Start by looking over your "contract" get addresses and telephone numbers.  They are GUARENTEED FAKE, but in an effort to show the Credit Card Company you have done your due diligence, you will have to email, write and call these people at least once to try and resolve your contract complaint.

 

FOR LUXURY HOLIDAY INTERNATIONAL AND RESIDENCY COLLECTION:

Start by emailing LHI at:  customerservice@luxuryhi.us  and call (410) 800-4792-  cancel immediately.  (This is necessary for a paper trail).  If still in Cabo-- go see them personally.  If you are at home mail a CERTIFIED letter to 10320 Little Patuxent Parkway Ste. 200 Columbus MD 21044 both address are the same for Luxury International and Residency Collection.  This will NOT get your money back, but it will help with the paper trail needed for later.    In the TALES OF WOE there are more addresses and emails for other companies who may have SCAMMED You.

 

IMMEDIATELY file a dispute with your Credit Card or Bank!!!  I cannot stress this enough!  This is FRAUD and it is a crime and you are now among many of us who have been victimized.

 

However, the Crime is not against you- (hard to believe, I know) but the Credit Card Company from which the scammers took the money!  The Credit Card Co will file a legal dispute with the company who swiped your card and this is your ONLY hope of getting your money back.

Unfortunately, there is NO Govermental agency who can help.  All we can do is make them aware of HOW MANY people this is happening too. 

 

The CC Co's are the ONLY ones who can STOP this!  Take out the scammer's ability to get money and GAME OVER.  Millions, Billions?? I don't know how much will be defrauded before Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express say NO MORE FOREIGN TRANSACTIONS IN MEXICO UNTIL THIS IS STOPPED AND CITIZENS AROUND THE WORLD CAN TRAVEL WITHOUT FEAR OF BEING VICTIMIZED! 

 

FROM A CONCERNED CONTRIBUTOR:   Everyone needs to file a report with the FBI.  They don't investigate for single complaints, but if they start receiving hundreds and thousands of complaints the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) just might start an investigation when they find out how big the scam is.

 

Go to:   http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx  to file a complaint with FBI Special Fraud Unit. 

 

I have been told there was success when filing a complaint here: 

http://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/#credit-card

 

WRITE ONE LETTER EXPLAINING YOUR SITUATION IN DETAIL AND SEND TO ALL:

 

conagencycyloscabos@state.gov (US CONSULATES GENERAL)

lapublico@sre.gob.mx- (CONSULATE OF MEXICO IN LOS ANGELES, CA)

ueniace@sre.gob.mx- (THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS)

mexembusa@sre.gob.mx (MEXICAN EMBASSY IN WASHINGTON D.C.)

info@consulmexsat.org (MEXICAN CONSULTE IN SAN ANTONIO TX)

contract@visitmexico.com (MEXICO TOURISM BOARD)

 

 

Unfortunately, the Maryland address is a virtual office and the calls are forwarded to someone's home.  (I could hear kids and dogs in the background when I called- confirmed by another contributor)  She will tell you have reached the "Headquarters" of LHI or Residency Collection.  I asked to be transferred to the "Legal Department".  I was told the phone lines were down and would have to try later.

 

You can also contact the Maryland FBI and Attorney General's office with your complaint of MULTI-NATIONAL CREDIT CARD FRAUD, but they will not be able to help you because the CRIME took place outside of US jurisdiction.

 

If you have used your Credit Card, breath a sigh of relief.  With the proper diligence you will hopefully get the transaction reversed.  If you used a bank card or debit card backed by Mastercard or Visa you will have to wait longer, but with good documentation you should also eventually get the transaction reversed.

 

Now the hard part begins.  Patience, perserverence and good paperwork will be what saves you. 

 

Once you have started the dispute you will be required to send any and all information to them as proof you cancelled within your allotted time.  The US has a 5 day right to rescind and Mastercard has a 14 day grace allowance specifically for timeshare contracts.

 

Get a phone recording app on your phone so you can RECORD every lie these people will now tell you as you begin trying to re-coup your money!

 

You can file a complaint with PROFECO- This is the Mexican Consumer Protection Agency... Nothing more than the BBB. They have NO power and the dirtbags from LHI will NOT show up for meetings with no consequence.  It is a total pain to file a complaint - tons of paperwork in English and Spanish and in the end they will NOT help at all. Word has it PROFECO is paid off by these companies so WHY would help to stop it??? If PROFECO gets its palms greased by the Cartel they will never help to stop them.

 

 

Copy and Use NOTICE FOR CANCELLATION FOR POSTAL MAIL AND EMAILS: 

 

Notice of Cancellation
Luxury Holiday Hotel [or whomever is on the contact]  and all Affiliates, as of [ TODAY'S DATE]  [ALL NAMES ON THE CONTACT] we(I)hereby cancel (my, our) membership contract [NUMBER] its contents, along with any addendums dated on or after [DATE OF ORIGINAL SIGNING].  All previously signed documents are hereby cancelled and void. I(I, We) are invoking (my,our) 5 day right to rescind as determined by both Mexican and US Laws. You will hereby have 15 calendar days from [TODAY'S DATE] to refund in full with no deductions whatsoever [$AMOUNT OF MONEY]. My refund is to be made in the same manner as original charge by crediting the (Mastercard, Visa, AE) ending in [LAST 4 DIGITS] for the above amount.

No further charges will be authorized for any reason. We do not authorize [ALL NAMES ON CONTRACT], or
its affiliates any type of permission to charge for any transaction whatsoever after [DATE OF ORIGIINAL SIGNING].

Any monies not promptly refunded will be subject too late fees and a 30% penalty along with
all legal expenses associated with the collection of said monies.
This official cancellation has been delivered to [NAME ON CONTRACT AND MAILING ADDRESS]
on [TODAYS DATE] by both US Postal Service and by electronic email.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Below are ACTUAL Emails I received from PROFECO:

 

 EMAIL #1 APRIL 15, 2015

Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor

Subprocuraduría de Servicios

Dirección General de Quejas y Conciliación

Dirección de Conciliación y Programas Especiales

 

“2015, Año del Generalísimo José María Morelos y Pavón”

 

Dear Mrs. X,

 

Regarding your complaint against the supplier Beautiful Dream, S.A. de C.V., we inform you that the legal representative of the supplier did not appear, therefore since there is not written acknowledgment or evidence by Profeco stating that they receive it, we could not fine the supplier for the non-appearance. 

 

Therefore we have to schedule another hearing for May 19, 2015 at 13:00 hrs. Mexico’s city time.

 

Please send your acknowledgement or comments before the next hearing.

 

Thanks,

Norah Eugenia Márquez Díaz ESQ.

Federal Consumer Protection Agency

Department of Conciliation Services for

Foreign Residents

****************************************************************************************************

EMAIL #2  MAY 25, 2015

 

Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor

Subprocuraduría de Servicios

Dirección General de Quejas y Conciliación

Dirección de Conciliación y Programas Especiales

 

“2015, Año del Generalísimo José María Morelos y Pavón”

 

Dear Mrs. X

 

Regarding your claim against the supplier Beautiful Dream, S.A. de C.V., we inform you that during the previous hearing the legal representative of the supplier did not appear. In this case, apparently the supplier did not receive the notice on time; therefore, we cannot fine them for the non-appearance since there is not written acknowledgment or evidence by Profeco stating that they receive it. 

 

Therefore we set another hearing for July 06, 2015 at 12:00 hrs. Mexico city time.

 

Please send your acknowledgment or comments before the next hearing date.

 

Thanks,

Norah Eugenia Márquez Díaz ESQ.

Federal Consumer Protection Agency

Department of Conciliation Services for

Foreign Residents

****************************************************************************************

#3 Email on July 13, 2015:

 

Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor

Subprocuraduría de Servicios

Dirección General de Quejas y Conciliación

Dirección de Conciliación y Programas Especiales

 

“2015, Año del Generalísimo José María Morelos y Pavón”

 

Dear Mrs. X,

 

Regarding your claim against the supplier Beautiful Dream, S.A. de C.V., we inform you that during last hearing, the legal representative of the supplier did not appear. In this case, apparently the supplier did not receive the notice on time; therefore, we cannot fine them for the non-appearance since there is not written acknowledgment or evidence by Profeco stating that they receive it. 

 

We are taking the steps that the law established in order to send notices to suppliers, however since this department requires the assistance of others Profeco’s offices in other locations in Mexico so we cannot totally dispose of their schedules and there are cases when notices are not delivered in the time that the law established or they don’t send us the written acknowledgment soon enough. 

 

We are so sorry for that, obviously we follow all steps in order to notify but due to our lack of staff responsible of delivering notices, this department should wait the reception or acknowledgment of the notice even when we send notices in time.

 

We will keep trying, we are really sorry for this trouble. Therefore we need to inform you that as an administrative office and from the nature of the settlement procedure, we could not force any party involved in it.

 

From the above we set another hearing for September 3rd, 2015 at 12:00 hrs. Mexico city time.

 

*********************************************************************************************************

 

• Conciliacion a Extranjeros

•  

• Sep 14 at 5:54 PM

 

To:  Mrs. X

 

Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor

Subprocuraduría de Servicios

Dirección General de Quejas y Conciliación

Dirección de Conciliación y Programas Especiales

 

“2015, Año del Generalísimo José María Morelos y Pavón”

 

Dear Mrs. X,

 

Regarding your claim against the supplier BEAUTIFUL DREAM, S.A. de C.V., we inform you that during the previous hearing the legal representative of the supplier did not appear. In this case, apparently the supplier did not receive the notice on time; therefore, we cannot fine them for the non-appearance since there is not written acknowledgment or evidence by Profeco stating that they receive it. 

 

Therefore we set another hearing for October 26, 2015 at 12:00 hrs. Mexico’s city time.

 

Please send your acknowledgment or comments before the next hearing date.

 

Regards,

 

Norah Eugenia Márquez Díaz ESQ.

Federal Consumer Protection Agency

Department of Conciliation Services for

Foreign Residents

 

 

Sophos Secure “La información de este correo así como la contenida en los documentos que se adjuntan, puede ser objeto de solicitudes de acceso a la información”. Sophos Secure

 

*******************************************************************************************

You can see the pattern here... pretty sure we will OLD and GRAY before PROFECO would actually help us!

 

*When I responded to the email saying I received the exact same email twice, I received no response.  The PROFECO Office is literally across the street from LHI's den of lies!  I would predict they walk across the street and pay the GOVERNMENT cash to send out these emails.  Or who knows?  Maybe there is no PROFECO at all and all just another layer of SCAM from LHI.

 

Below is the response I received from the Maryland State's Attorney.  They will NOT be able to help you because the CRIME took place OUTSIDE US jurisdiction.  ONLY the Credit Card Companies have the power to help you by reversing the charges based on FRAUD.  The scammers never respond and eventually the Attorney General closes the case.