Ocean Blue Marketing or Asian Travel Club.

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Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 4:15 am

Recently when I was in Phuket for my honeymoon we were approached by a man on a motorbike. he gave us a scratch card each (my husband and I) and made us scratch them then and there. my husband won a Tshirt and then I won the chance to get a ipad, a luxury accommodation for 2 nights or a smart phone. All we had to do was go with them and they would take us to the company to listen to a 90 minute spiel.

once we get close to the office which they made sure to take us down the back way so we wouldn't remember where the office was exactly. they stopped and told us to pretend we had been married 10 years and all this crap so the company would give us the free prizes.

well the other guy which met us when we stopped ( a sleazy English dude) took us to the offices around the corner.

we get there and a guy then takes us down the corner for a drink. He susses us out as to whether we would be suitable for the proposition he is going to offer. When satisfied he takes us to the office again and gives us a coffee and starts telling us all about this great deal where we can stay any where in the world in luxury accommodation really cheap. He goes on and on and on.. showing us the website and the great places available etc
http://www.asian-travel-club.com/
they were using the name ocean blue marketing but actually were the Asian travel club.

anyway the spiel went for 3 hours and finally the hard sell. unfortunately we were taken in by them. I had said on the way there don't sign anything. and yet by the time we had been there 4 hours we were signing.
they started out wanting something like 50k and then about $500 a year membership for your lifetime. friends and family could use it and you had 365 days available to use anywhere in the world. if your friends decided to go to USA they could stay in these hotels cheap and if you were going away at the same time you could still use some of the days. so 365 days worth of free accommodation anywhere in the world to use all in one day or over the year basicly.

when we said we cant afford that they dropped the price and kept dropping the price until we said we could put $100 down and pay the 5k they had reduced it to over the next 4 months.

this was also a on the spot offer...you couldn't come back tomorrow to do it or next week.

so after signing up and them dropping us back at the hotel I did a little research online on my iphone. alarm bells were really ringing as I found a few sites with people having been ripped off. I couldn't do much searching though being overseas on my iphone. We decided to leave it till we got back to Australia and search properly. Also we figured if it was a scam like we suspected it was better to be out of the country and on home soil before revealing it or questioning things.

upon returning we cancelled the card they had used to take the funds from. I followed a few threads on sites and one man had said to write to them and inform them that there is cooling off period and they are still subject to that and you are cancelling your policy and have seen a lawyer.

I wrote a polite email (below) to the boss guy who only came out after we had said yes to do the paper work he went by the name Don Clark.

Dear Mr Clark,

Upon returning to Australia we have decided that we do not wish to be a part of Ocean Blue Marketing or Asian Travel Club.
We have spoken to our bank and credit card companies, and have legal advice that there is a 14 day cooling off period, and we would like to take this opportunity to cancel our membership as it is now only 5 days since.

Thankyou for your time.

Sincerely,
pinkdragon and husband

fortunately for us we had only put down $150 or so. We knew we would not get this money back as we had read stories of people still trying to get thousands back.
we got a nice reply

Dear pinkdragon and husband,
Consider your membership cancelled.
Regards,
Don Clark

we have not seen the money they took or any offers to return it.

I just want to try and make anyone and everyone aware when they are travelling to watch out for such scams apparently they are every where.
the day after being taken in we went to pattong in Phuket and were offered basicly the same thing about 20 times in 2 hours. people on the street with scratch cards pretending to be tourism of Thailand trying to keep tourist numbers up and all sorts of stories.

you don't have to be dumb or unaware to be taken in. after 3 or 4 hours with all your questions being answered right and lots of reassurance etc I think a LOT of people would be taken in.

Mod note: necro of old thread--split and moved to general, as it is more general scam information - Dorothy

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 10:12 am

It's not just Phuket, Mrs Cropper and I had the same thing happen to us in Gran Canaria, ruining our Wedding Anniversary. One moment I'd 'won' a scartchcard prize, and naively believed it, the next minute we were in a taxi to a luxury timeshare complex.

It help to resist that 'our' apartment wasn't built yet, and had a view of the cement works. Even so we were subjected to intense hard sell in a big room where many other people and salesmen were doing the same thing - every now and again a bottle of sparkly wine would go 'pop' as another couple signed up. They wanted £8,000 I hadn't got, our Sunday papaers are full of people trying to sell these 'memberships' on. Like AFF scams, there is the equivalent of the 'recovery' scam, where the agency selling it on screws you over once more for good measure. I think at the time we got a prize of some worthless holiday vouchers - the flight and 'charges' would've cost as much as any other holiday. Sad

After that experience, the next time we were on holiday and a girl with a clipboard tried to befriend us, Mrs C told her to f&%k off, which is so not like her.

ETA: Heres an account of someone meeting the same people as you:
http://life-o-life.blogspot.com/2006/10/scam-alert.html

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 12:19 pm

I get the telemarketer version of that pitch a lot - Wyndham Vacation Resorts.

The last time that I received one of their calls, I was asked, "Have you received anything from Wyndham Vacation Resorts before?" I replied, "I get calls from you people all the time". There was a sound like a gasp, and the line went dead.

BTW - Pinkdragon - is that where you've been all this time?

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 2:44 pm

^^^ Beat me to it Yastreb! The pinkdragon has returned!

This particular method is also used in the US but is kept mostly domestic with a higher level going to the international scene. The deeded resorts and some timeshare type resorts include a membership similar to what pinkdragon mentioned. I almost was is sales for one such resort but after 3 hours couldn't stand the people I would be selling beside (now I can relate their activity to "ladlike" behavior). I was far too honest. Very Happy

Pnikdagon, you may want to see if your card company has a program to assist you with recovery (they do the work since it is money they are missing too). Some nice cards have that. Worth a call.

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 2:46 pm

hi Yastreb,
yes I have been away for a while, found myself a man and forced him to marry me LOL.

I actually thought we were lucky... I have read some stories of people actually paying like 5k and 10k deposits and now trying to get their money back. scammers are such scum, I really don't know how they sleep at night.

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 2:49 pm

Don't know how they sleep either...all those 3 a.m. phone calls our phone baiters give them Laughing

.

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 3:14 pm

Rofl... hi badger.

I am glad at least some scammers get taken offline and kept busy by such wonderful people like those on here. However it's sad that there are plenty more stepping in to take their place.

wish there were more baiters than scammers maybe then innocent people wouldn't lose life savings

** SUSPENDED ** Joined: 23 Dec 2010 Posts: 1

I think it is so wrong how when you travel out of the country like to Asia or Mexico and everyone is in on the whole game of trying to get you to sign up for a timeshare. People travel to a vacation destination to relax and enjoy their time, not to be swindled by everyone they meet along the way. It sickens me how in Mexico all the taxi guys are in on the game. My parents arrived in Maztlan airport and there was no resort shuttle to pick them up. Next thing they knew all these taxi drivers were offering them a free ride to their resort if they were to watch a timeshare presentation otherwise they wouldn't give them a ride because they want to make money through the timeshare company. Apparently they get paid like a $100 cash for every person they turn in to a timeshare presentation. People go on vacations to relax and not be swindled out of their money!
The worst is if you own a timeshare and then they try to sell you more of their timeshare while you are on vacation.
I am glad to stay to have always stuck with my guns and not sign up for a timeshare, but I admit I have been to a timeshare presentation or two to earn some quick cash. To me it is quite hilarious and entertaining making the timeshare person believe I am going to buy. Very Happy

I hope this will help all of you if you want a good club this one has good reviews Link pulled - sorry - RC Mod

Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 5:10 pm

Used to be hundreds of timeshare touts in the Canary Isles, police began cracking down about 5 yrs ago and now they're not such a nuisance. Also helps that the builders have mostly gone bust and the empty blocks are everywhere.

Body language tip: raise open hands towards the tout as though going to push him/her away and say loudly NO, NOT INTERESTED. Works a treat, if not keep hands up and say something stronger. Whatever you do, don't touch scratchcard or go to a 'presentation'. These touts are variants on the African scammers.

Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 2:41 am

A couple of years ago in Hawaii my wife and I attended an orientation presented by the travel agent that booked our trip. They had a tout, er . . . timeshare rep who offered us $100 in tour vouchers to sit through their pitch. We agreed and I gave them my credit card number with the understanding if we didn't show up at 8 AM the next morning my credit card would be called. Three hours later my cell phone rang. It was the CC company saying they found suspicious activity -- a very small charge (around $3) that scammers who buy stolen credit card numbers do to "ping" an account to see if it is a valid number.

I had the bank cancel the card and called the timeshare folks and told them what happened and that I would not be coming to their "presentation." They vehemently denied that they had anything to do with the attempted fraud but finally said fine, but we are going to charge your card. I told them that's ok with me without telling them that I had the card canceled. I never saw the charge and never heard from them again.

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