"Wolf" Pleads Guilty: The Timeshare "Buyer's Pitch" That Changed Names Every 90 Days

This one changed it about every 90 days.

What happened?

On December 1, 2017, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada, part of the Department of Justice (DOJ), announced that Daniel Martin Boyar, also known as "Wolf," 62, of Orlando, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud.

U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan accepted the plea. Sentencing was set for May 22, 2018. The maximum penalty was 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, plus restitution of up to $3.5 million.

The scheme defrauded more than 1,000 victims, many elderly, of more than $3.3 million.

How the scheme worked

According to Boyar's admissions, from October 2010 to April 2012:

• Boyar was the leader of a telemarketing scheme aimed at timeshare owners.
• Callers promised to sell owners' timeshares if the owners paid part of the closing costs in advance.
• There were no buyers. No sales were ever arranged.
• The DOJ called this the "buyer's pitch," an advance-fee scam.
• The operation used various trade names including Holiday Advertising, Professional Concepts LLC, TeleTeton Corporation, Redline Funding LLC, Great West Funding Incorporated, Equity Financial Services LLC and First Capital Financial Services Corporation.
• It operated from state to state and changed its name about every 90 days.
• The conspirators created websites that featured fake testimonials, press releases and false company officials.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated the matter along with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).

Here's the thing ...

The name changes and the fake websites are the whole trick. A timeshare owner gets the call, then does what everyone tells them to do: look the company up. And they find a nice website with happy customers and a press page.

All of it fake.

The DOJ's own warning in the release said it's relatively easy for scammers to create the look of a legit business online. So "I checked their website" isn't enough anymore.

The real tell is the money. A legitimate sale doesn't need you to pay closing costs before a buyer exists.

What to do this week

• Timeshare owners: never pay upfront fees to sell. Closing costs come out at closing.
• Check how long a company has existed, not just whether it has a website.
• Search the company name plus "complaint" before you pay anything.
• Sellers and marketers: never use fake testimonials or invented executives. That's deception, full stop.