PORT ORANGE, Fla. – Bob Hovan, 77, of Port Orange, is sharing a painful lesson after losing more than $100,000 in a complex scheme involving a fraudulent stock buyback.
He hopes his experience will help others avoid falling into similar traps.
“It’s really a ton of money that’s gone,” Hovan said. “It’s just devastating. It’s been a nightmare.”
Hovan was approached by a supposed real estate company claiming to represent his timeshare company, Diamond Resorts, which had been acquired by Hilton.
The crooks told him he owned stock in Diamond and that Hilton wanted to buy it for $61,000 - a surprising windfall for stock he didn’t even know he had.
“This realty company offered me to sign a contract, and they would broker selling the stock for me,” he recalled.
The company sent him a contract and asked for a 10% payment of $6,100 as a broker fee.
After he paid, they requested another $4,884 for a “recording fee.”
Then came demands for even more payments: $22,000 for a “corporate tax,” $15,000 for a “ledger fee” and even claims of owing the IRS.
“They would guarantee one more payment, and I will get my money,” Hovan said.
But every payment led to another demand.
In total, he wired more than $104,000.
“All these notices and bank account statements they sent, they all look real professional,” he said.
Fraudulent schemes cost Americans billions
Caroline O’Brien Buster, special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Orlando field office, said schemes like these are part of a billion-dollar fraud industry.
“This is what these fraudsters do, and it’s a billion-dollar business,” she said.
The Federal Trade Commission reports Americans lost $2.1 billion to imposter scams in the first three quarters of last year.
Experts urge people to remain skeptical of unsolicited offers.
“Be skeptical of everything,” Buster said. “Nothing is free.”
Hovan’s suspicions were confirmed when the IRS told him he didn’t owe any taxes and the bank allegedly used for the escrow account didn’t recognize the account number.
News 6 found the state of New York had no record of the title company the scammers claimed to represent, despite its professional-looking website.
“I think it was a scam right from the start,” Hovan said.
A cautionary tale for others
Hovan wanted to recoup the money from his timeshare because his wife, who has Alzheimer’s and is in hospice, can no longer travel.
“Really, you should be cautious when somebody solicits to you without you contacting them first,” he warned.
While the Secret Service does investigate wire fraud, they say most times recovery is only possible if reported within 24 hours.
Too much time has passed for Hovan’s money to be recovered.
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