Freedom Best Property Management
Complaint 203 Details

  • Date Occurred: 05/22/2013
  • Reported Damages: $679.50
  • !

The complaint is against an online dating profile

The complaint is a listing fraud posted on public forums or sites against an anonymous entity

The complaint is mobile text spam or smishing related against an anonymous entity

The company or person contact no longer exists

International boundaries

This scam lasted for about a month starting on April 25th and going till May 22 of 2011.

I own a timeshare with 2 other girls who are in other parts of the world and country, so we never use it (and we thought we would be using it a lot when we bought it). I had put the timeshare on 2 different sites to sell and I believe one of those sites was where the scamers found my number.
And I know this is stupid to have done, but I really needed the money and thought I checked these guys out well enough.

On April 25th I recieved a call from a guy named Max Pilgrim, who worked for Freedom Best Property Management as a Property Manager. This guy annoyed me from the beginning, but I still talked with him and thought that with all the hassle of waiting to get the paperwork from one of the other owners and waiting for power of attourny forms to get to me that he had put enough time into this project to be real.

I finally got the forms ready and was just about set to go when Max told me that in order to get the paperwork to me to sign I would have to send him (by Moneygram) $200 so that the courrier company called "Allied" could meet me and give me the paperwork and check for me and the other 2 owners, Max also mentioned that the check would be a cashiers check and would only be good for 1 month after it was issued. I went to the Walmart nearby and put $200 on a money order instead of a money transfer, and now Max is getting upset because he can't access the money order (basically a check to myself). I told him to deal with it, and we set up a time for me to get the paperwork. He was not doing anything about it, so I took it on myself to change it to his name and transfer it (total cost $215). The time we set up for the paperwork transfer came and left, and I did not hear from anyone until 3ish weeks later. Max's phone was shut off or something, and the voicemail was full, so I was unable to leave a message.

Friday May 20th in the afternoon I recieved a phone call from the courrier service (Allied) from a guy named Kevin Gilmartin. He said he still had the check still sitting at their facility and was waiting for the bond to be paid . . . I had never heard tell of this bond that needed to be paid, so he explained it to me. Apparently he could get the check to me if I paid this bond that would make sure the insurance was paid on our timeshare. So he explained to me that I should go to Western Union and send him money so that they could release the checks and he even set up a time to deliver them. (by the way all of these people I have talked to seemed to think I lived in California, I think because of my phone number). I went to Western Union on Friday afternoon and sent Kevin Gilmartin money ($136.50 plus a $9 fee) and he said he would be sending that money and the $200 I paid before to Max back later that evening . . . he told me to go to Western Union and ask about it after 2 or so hours went by. I went to check several times and nothing was there on the reference number he gave me. Also, I was unable to get ahold of Kevin (and his messages were full).

Friday night/Saturday morning at 12:43 in the middle of the night I recieved a call (or really they called a couple of times cause I didn't answer the first one cause I was ASLEEP!!!) from the Allied company, but a different person than I had talked to, saying there was a lein on the money and I would need to send them $285 to get that taken care of. I was at the end of my rope so I argued with the guy and hung up on him.

The next morning (saturday) I recieved a call from Kevin Gilmartin again saying he had gotten a call from some numbskull last night and he wanted to appoligize for that guy etc. He tried to convince me that I needed to get the money to them before I could get the check so I told him I didn't have any more money in my checking account to send to him, so he said I could just send the money by calling Western Union and using a credit card. I was eventually convinced of this (probably because they had kept me awake for a good portion of the night) and agreed to do it for him, but he said he wanted to have me send the money to Mysti Smith, then "he couldn't find her" and found another guy named Austin to have me send it to. So I sent this Austin guy $285 with the fee making it a total of $319. (stupidity I now realize)

Saturday night I got a call from the FBI (no kidding, this is the route they took)! They said I was a part of a fraud. They then told me how to contact them and what office they were a part of (San Diego CA) and asked if I could get on board with helping them catch this ring of people I have been dealing with. I said yes, and they told me that this Kevin Gilmartin would call me with an emergency late at night again and I was to argue with him but eventually give in and say that I would pay him. Imediately after that I should call Western Union and using a credit card I should pay the amount (somewhere between $300 and $700) this Agent told me that he had in the past given out a credit card number to be used, but the guy figured it out and he went to another city and they had to retrack him down.

Imediately after this call I called the San Diego FBI field office (found number on the internet) and asked if they had anyone by that name working on a case in Florida or on a case dealing with Allied. This real agent on the phone said it sounded fishy to him (ME TOO!) and he had never heard of any FBI stuff that would make me pay money on my own credit card. (also the non FBI agent told me that his partner was Mysti Smith, and wouldn't you know it, but Kevin Gilmartin had used that same name as one of the people from his office)

I decided that this FBI agent that called me was not really an agent and that he was just prepping me to get some more money out of me. Saturday night/Sunday morning at about 1 am I recieved a call from this Gilmartin person. He wanted $400 to make a lein from Visa go away. I argued as the nonFBI people said to and then told him that I would do it in the morning before I went to church. I then called the non FBI agents back and told them that I was going to wait until morning to pay the Western Union stuff and let them know the transfer number before I told Kevin Gilmartin what it was (so they could get into place). At 5 am on Sunday the non FBI agents called me again and asked if I had gotten the number or not yet. I let them know that I would be doing it at 8 am central time (all this time they had been thinking I was in CA) and I would call them after I had gotten the Western Union number but before I gave it to Kevin Gilmartin. They said they needed a half hour to get set up so I should call them at 7:30 am with the number instead. Fine I said. (I am now frustrated beyond words) At 7:20 I made up a number (I wasn't going to actually pay the money!) and gave it to the non FBI agents. They checked it and called me back saying it was no where to be found (I know, cause there was no money attached to it!) I then said I would call western union and try to find out what was happening. they called back in 10 minutes (by the way the only number I had for them was a hotel number and room number, and when I called the hotel office the night before they said that the room that i was asking about was for sure not FBI, but he coudn't tell me how he knew, or he wasn't supposed to tell anyhow) and told me that I was obviously lying to them about having sent any money. They coudn't find any transactions for my name or the number I gave them. This guy was getting pissed!!!!! I was starting to get a little heated too, and told him that he should leave me alone. he even played the card "you wasted the time and money of the government" and I hung up! He than called continuously for 10 minutes, I let it ring, but after that I answered a few of them and did not speak. He was super upset!!! Finally on one of the silent answerings he said that he would keep calling (by the way my cell phone came up with a RESTRICTED when i answered from him, and also when I answered from the first middle of the night guy), so on the next ring I calmly said "I will be turning off my phone now and never call me ever again" I then turned off my phone.

Later on Sunday (after I turned my phone back on) I got a call from Kevin Gilmartin at 10:48, 10:49, 1:29 and i answered the one at 5:19 where he was crying and sobbing saying he was sorry etc. I didn't believe it, and I think they were just going to try to get me to send them money for something else through this ploy.

Thats all to my story. Stupid I was, I know!

Do You Have a Complaint?

Submit a Complaint

Comments

There are no comments posted. Be the first to comment on this complaint

Do You Have a Complaint?

Add a complaint and spread the word. High volume complaints have a better chance to get their money back. Submit a report and join forces with others like you!

Submit a Complaint Now

Business Profile Summary

  • Freedom Best Property Management logo

Company Statistics

  • Complaint Against Freedom Best Property Management
  • Complaints Filed: 1
  • Reported Damages: $679.50
Visit Complete Company Profile

What is SBID?

SBID is a unique id code that identifies the user's computer and location. SBID is used to prevent fraudulent postings and help our community find users who create duplicate user accounts.