The Short Answer
If a broker or company calls out of the blue saying they already have a buyer lined up for your timeshare and just need you to pay a fee to close the deal, it is a scam. There is no buyer, and a real resale never asks the seller to pay money up front to a caller. ScamVerify™ tracks the vacation and timeshare scam category this belongs to: 20,823 complaints in our FTC and FCC data, with 4,103 in the last 90 days. Here is the tell hiding in the numbers: those recent complaints came from more than 3,000 different phone numbers. That is a rotating cast of boiler-room operations dialing timeshare owners, not one legitimate brokerage with real buyers. You can hang up.
How the "We Have a Buyer" Scam Runs
This scam works because it offers exactly what a stuck timeshare owner wants to hear. It runs in stages.
- The cold call. Someone claiming to be a resale broker says they have a buyer, often a company or a foreign investor, eager to purchase your specific timeshare, sometimes above what you paid.
- The urgency. The buyer is ready now, but the deal will fall through unless you move quickly, so you need to act today to lock it in.
- The fee. Before the sale can close, you must pay an upfront charge, described as closing costs, transfer taxes, an escrow deposit, or a title fee, usually by wire or to a third party.
- The vanishing. After you pay, the buyer develops a problem, a new fee appears to save the deal, or the broker simply stops answering. The sale never happens because there was never a buyer.
Why There Is No Buyer
The entire call is built around a buyer who does not exist. Timeshares are notoriously hard to resell and often worth far less than owners paid, so a stranger calling with an eager, high-paying buyer for your exact unit is not luck, it is the hook. The "buyer" is a story that justifies the only real event in the whole process: you sending money. Once you understand that the buyer is fictional, every fee that follows is revealed for what it is, a payment for nothing.
What They Actually Collect
A legitimate sale moves money toward the seller. This scam moves it the other way. Here is what each request is really doing.
| What they ask for | What it is really for |
|---|---|
| An upfront "closing cost" or "transfer tax" | A direct payment to the scammer; real closing costs come out of the sale proceeds |
| An "escrow deposit" you send | Money to an account they control, not a neutral escrow |
| Your personal and timeshare details | To make the call sound informed and to target you again |
| A wire or third-party payment | An untraceable transfer that is hard to reverse |
Got a call like this?
Tell Ava what happened. She checks it against millions of FTC and FCC complaints and real-time carrier data, then tells you exactly what you are dealing with.
What a Real Timeshare Sale Looks Like
In a genuine resale, the seller does not pay a stranger up front to attract a buyer. A legitimate broker or licensed real estate agent is paid a commission out of the proceeds when a sale actually closes, not a large fee before anything happens, and any real closing costs are handled through the settlement, not wired in advance. Real buyers do not materialize from a surprise cold call demanding you move today. If you want to sell, you start the process yourself, through a licensed agent or a reputable platform you researched, and you never pay to "release" a buyer who called you.
Why Timeshares Are So Hard to Sell
Understanding the real resale market makes the fake buyer obvious. Timeshares are notoriously difficult to sell, and many trade for a tiny fraction of what the original owner paid, sometimes listing for a single dollar just to escape the ongoing maintenance fees. The market is flooded with owners trying to get out, not buyers trying to get in. Against that backdrop, a stranger cold-calling with an eager, ready buyer for your exact unit, often at a great price, is not a lucky break, it is the opposite of how this market works, which is precisely why it should raise your guard. Scammers rely on owners not knowing how weak resale demand really is. Once you do, the promise of a waiting buyer reads for what it is: the bait that justifies the fee.
What to Do
- Do not pay any upfront fee to a caller who says they have a buyer.
- Hang up. You did not list your timeshare with them, and a real sale never starts this way.
- Sell on your own terms. If you want to sell, contact a licensed agent or a reputable resale platform yourself.
- Let Ava check it. Paste the number or company name, and Ava checks it against the same complaint and carrier data we track, then tells you your next step.
- Report it. File at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and with your state attorney general.
For the full set of timeshare and travel scripts, see our guide to timeshare and travel scams. The same operations run the exit-company upfront fee pitch and the "free vacation" prize offer, and circle back with a refund recovery scam after you have already been hit.
I Already Paid a Fee to the "Buyer." Now What?
You are not to blame, and speed helps. If you wired money, call your bank immediately and ask them to try to recall the transfer, since a fast request sometimes works. If you paid by card, call your issuer using the number on the back of the card and dispute the charge. Save every document and message, then file with the FTC and your state attorney general. Expect a follow-up call promising to recover your money for another fee, which is a second scam that preys on the same victims. Then tell Ava exactly what happened, and she will map out the specific next steps for your situation.
