Return to home page

The article below is old news and fortunately the perpetrators have been captured and are serving various sentences. But we leave the article up, to show you the lengths to which scammers will go to extract upfront fees. The sad sagas continue today. So protect yourself and deal only with a licensed real estate broker who collects commission only at close of sale.

Published by TimeSharing Today Magazine
Jul/Aug, 1999, Issue #46

Swiss American "Bank" Targets Resellers in Aggressive Telemarketing Operation

Florida Attorney General Opens Up Investigation, Seeks Victims

As evidenced by a dramatic increase in inquiries received at TimeSharing Today, Swiss American Bank is stepping up the level of its activities in seeking to have potential resellers buy an appraisal as a prerequisite to Swiss American Bank’s making a purchase offer. Although TimeSharing Today has written about this company previously, many readers have apparently forgotten or never read the original article. Accordingly, we are reprinting portions of the article from the Jan/Feb issue; additional comments follow to reflect subsequent events and investigations. Here is the original article:

"The current campaign by Swiss American Bank, Inc. to get timeshare owners to pay $399 to $485 for an appraisal sounds remarkably like the operation recently run by Resort Investment Trust.

According to the documents given to our investigator and subscribers who have contacted us, the company claims to be a "multi-national privately held investment bank." The bank’s primary business is "to purchase, then package individual timeshare or interval weeks into professionally managed property portfolios, in a tax-free environment."

The salesman had told our investigator that Swiss American would be interested in purchasing his timeshare but certain documents must first be mailed to the "Documentation Center" in Boca Raton, Florida in order that Swiss American Bank can perform its "due diligence" investigation prior to making an offer to purchase.

One of the required documents is "a recent appraisal." When asked why the company did not secure its own appraisal, the answer was, "That would be against the law." Prospective sellers are told that the Swiss America Bank could not even recommend an appraiser, but that a "multiple-listing broker" would soon contact them with some information about appraisers.

A few days later, prospective sellers receive a call from the "International Multi Listing Service". After "checking his computer," four appraisal companies, with fees ranging from $399 to $485 are found. One is Interval International Appraisal, another is RCI Appraisal.

Several days later, the appraisal company calls, using a canned pitch which describes the appraisal process in the exact language used by the person from the "International Multi-Listing Service." The seller is told that the appraisal would take about eight weeks.

No telephone listings could be found for International Multi-Listing Service, for three of the four appraisal companies or for Swiss American Bank.

Although Swiss American’s stationery lists offices in various cities around the world, including Portland, the only apparent contact with Portland, Oregon is the location of the company’s registered office in nearby Salem, Oregon. No phone is listed for Swiss American Bank in Portland. The incorporation documents for Swiss American Bank, Inc. were filed in Oregon in September, 1998."

Since this article was published, Swiss American Bank has changed its stationery to eliminate the Boca Raton, Florida address for the "Documentation Center." The appraisal and other documents are now requested to be sent to "Investment and Acquisitions" at an address in The Bahamas. A Swiss American salesman told our investigator that he was calling from the Boca Raton office, which was now used only for telemarketing, and that "all the legal work is in the Bahamas."

Another recent change in the stationery is that Portland is now Salem in the list of alleged worldwide locations.

RCI, the exchange company, has commenced a lawsuit against RCI Appraisals, one of the companies recommended by Swiss American Bank, to prevent unauthorized use of the RCI name. (The representative from RCI Appraisals had told our investigator that they had been part of the RCI exchange company a number of years ago but were no longer connected.).

The Florida Timeshare Bureau has received numerous complaints from people who paid the appraisal fee and then never heard further from Swiss American Bank after sending in the requested documentation.

An e-mail was received by TimeSharing Today from someone who claimed to have sold a week to Swiss American Bank after he secured his own appraisal. However, the party did not respond to our further inquiries for details of the transaction and we suspect that the e-mail was not bona fide.

When our investigator asked his Swiss American Bank salesman for a blank copy of the purchase offer form that would be forthcoming after the appraisal had been completed, the salesman said he would try. No purchase offer form has been received and the salesperson is no longer responding to our investigator’s calls.

A company representative told our investigator that Swiss American Bank has been in business for 20 years and that numerous weeks had been bought by Swiss American Bank at Westgate and other resorts in Florida’s Orlando (Orange County) area. While right-to-use timeshare documents are seldom recorded, deeded weeks are recorded just like any other property deed. However, a recent check of the deed registry for Orange County, Florida, going back more than 10 years, did not disclose one recorded deed into Swiss American Bank.

Cliff Hagberg, a Massachusetts timeshare resale broker and former chairman of the ARDA Resale Task Force, is now working with the Florida Attorney General’s office in its investigation of Swiss American Bank. Mr. Hagberg, who has previously testified as an expert witness for the government in criminal actions involving resale scams, has asked TimeSharing Today readers who may have been victimized by Swiss American Bank to contact Stuart Hudson of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, 400 W. Robinson St., Orlando, FL 32801; the phone number is 407/245-0801.

A similar operation under investigation by Florida officials, Resort Investment Trust, has recently closed its Florida office and consolidated its operation in the Bahamas. That company also continues to telemarket prospective sellers from a Florida office. Some Florida investigators have unofficially speculated that Resort Investment Trust and Swiss American Bank are controlled by the same individuals.

A copy of this article and an invitation to respond was sent to Swiss American Bank by certified mail to its offices in Boca Raton and in The Bahamas more than two months ago. No response has been received.