Once again Inside Timeshare has information of yet another fraudulent company contacting timeshare owners and those who have had past dealings with other scammers in the past. As usual, the fantastic news is the courts are holding significant amounts of money which have been seized and now being allocated to “past victims”. But, and there is always a but, there are “fees” which need to be paid before the money can be released.
The caller is named as Marie Osborne and is calling on behalf of Blackstone International Limited, Company Registration Number 03949032 with the registered address of:
40 Berkeley Square London W1J 5AL
An address that is regularly used for registering companies.
The telephone number given by Marie Osborne is 020 7193 0356 and appears to be a “purchased” number not associated with any company. Other numbers given are 020 7451 4000 and 020 7451 4001.
The 020 7451 4000 number is actually a genuine number for the named company, and when called the receptionist confirmed that there is no Marie Osborne working for them and they have nothing to do with timeshare. The receptionist then passed the call to another member of staff who confirmed this and also confirmed they had received many calls on this subject.
The website for the genuine Blackstone is:
https://www.blackstoneinternational.ltd/
As can be seen from the website they are suppliers of “quality consumer goods” and it looks like they are actually a US based company.
So here we go again, a group of “fraudsters” using the name of a genuine registered company, this then makes it difficult for people to realise it is a fraud. They will check the company registration and in their mind, it must be genuine. This makes it clear that just because a company is registered it does not mean that it is the one calling.
According to Marie, the money is a result of dealings our reader had with various companies in the past, one being our old friends the fake law firm from Fuengirola Ramirez and Ramirez along with International Travel Solutions and Nicholas Davey Associates.
In order to process the payment the following documentation is required along with the payment:
1) Document to be signed to say money has been received.
2) Document agreeing it to be a full & final settlement.
3) I must include a copy of my husband’s Death Certificate.
The bank details where the money has to be paid are Sort Code 04-03-01 and the Account Number 0000032. When checking the account the following is found, IBAN GB02LHVB04030100000323, BIC LHVBGB2LXXX. This account is for the UK branch of LHV Pank an Estonian banking and financial services company headquartered in Tallinn. It also happens to be the fourth largest bank in Estonia.
The payment is also supposed to go to a third-party company called PULS 8 Ltd, which when we have checked them are a company called Puls 8 (Cyprus) Ltd. This company was registered in July 2018 in the Cyprus Company Register and the company directors are Jonathan David Lassman and Mark Andrew Eddison. So the question is if Marie and Blackstone were genuine why is the payment to be made to a Cypriot company to an Estonian Bank?
It must also be pointed out that this name has come up before, it appeared on the “End of Year Cold Call List” published by mindtimeshare in 2016.
So just from these scant details, we can be absolutely certain that this is a fraud and all readers should be aware of this. If you have been contacted by Marie Osborne or any other person claiming to be from Blackstone International Ltd to use our contact page and give Inside Timeshare any information you can.
It is through the diligence of our reader and the fact she did her homework that she has not been “robbed” of any further money, again reinforcing our message that you should “DO YOUR HOMEWORK” before engaging with any company or paying any money.
