The timeshare and fractional ownership market is a lucrative subsector of the real estate economy; unfortunately, it is also very vulnerable to scammers, swindlers and flimflam artists. Costa Rica is not impervious to real estate deception, and the province of Guanacaste seems to be a focus of recent timeshare shams and charades.

At the controversial consumer complaint online network RipOff Report, a brouhaha has been unfolding with regard to a business entity known as Las Palmas Travel Network (website account suspended as of January 2014), which –according to a complaint originally submitted in August 2013, is connected to other entities known as Coco Sunset Vacation Club, also known as Bahia Turquesas. The alleged hustle took place in Playas del Coco, a beach community in Guanacaste that is in the midst of a real estate market and tourism development boom.

The grievous complaint against Las Palmas Travel Network includes the colorful allegation below, which has been slightly edited for context and grammar:

Here’s what happened: My wife and I were initially reeled in by “Jock”, a lively Scotsman [whose] turf is Playa Hermosa near the Condovac (a timeshare resort affiliated with RCI). We were turned over to “Matt” who qualified us over breakfast [at] Cafe de la Playa. Matt took us up to the shark tank (!), where we met sequentially with three other closers, who came at us with ever-decreasing packages for us to buy.

The complaint continues with an elaborate description of empty promises and shelling out more than $2,000 for a membership fee and a complex scheme of the purported timeshare membership benefits. Since the original RipOff Report complaint was filed, there have been numerous additional comments by consumers and even rebuttals by Las Palmas representatives. The matter has grown into a dizzying state of affairs.

While RipOff Report complaints are not official investigations, but a contextual search of the site yields a dirty pool of more than 200 alleged shakedowns, and many of them are related to real estate con games perpetrated against expats by expats.

To this end it helps to remember this 1998 word of advice from the fine Quatloos! Cyber Museum of Scams and Frauds:

No doubt, Costa Rica is a beautiful place which abounds in opportunities and it appears to be one of the leading jurisdictions for U.S. expatriates to settle down in. Unfortunately, too many of these expatriates are expatriates because they were caught in the U.S. [or elsewhere] committing some sort of scam or fraud, or committing tax evasion.