Floridians charged in timeshare fraud

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BOCA RATON, Fla., July 12 (UPI) -- Three Florida residents who ran a timeshare resale business were charged in a $3 million timeshare fraud scheme, federal officials said.

The three Palm Beach County residents were arrested on allegations of taking fees from timeshare owners after falsely saying they had buyers for the properties, and then doing nothing, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale reported Monday.

In some instances the timeshare owners were contacted multiple times by telemarketers that changed their business names then re-contacted the owners, federal officials said.

Court documents indicate the companies operated out of Boynton Beach and Boca Raton and contacted consumers across the United States and Canada, but avoided contacting Floridians.

Officials charged James Michael Tomasso, Wensley Robin McFarlane and Nicholas Charles Higgins with conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, the Sun-Sentinel said. Company names the men used included Euroamerican Timeshares, National Timeshare Liquidators, EAT Sales and Real Estate Purchasing Syndicate.