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Benchmark Escrow, Inc.

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Benchmark Escrow, Inc. Reports & Reviews (3)

- New Castle, CO, USA
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Phone call asking if I still owned my timeshare and if so did I want to sell it. I did. Caller has a contract with Groupo Modelo

this is part of the first doc rec'd. "GUARANTEED PURCHASE/SALE/ESCROW CONTRACT #2017-01-013 benchmarkescrowinc.com

THIS GUARANTEED PURCHASE/SALE/ESCROW CONTRACT #2017-01-013 (hereinafter “Contract”) is made and entered into this 11th day of October, 2017 among Benchmark Escrow Inc. (hereinafter “Broker”), and Bay View Property Management (hereinafter “Company”), and Miguel Acevedo Torres and company, Grupo Modelo S.A. de C.V(hereinafter “Buyer”), and Banco Santander, S.A. (hereinafter “Escrow”) and XXXXX XXXXX (hereinafter collectively, jointly and severally “Owner(s)”). Together, Broker, Company, Buyer, Escrow and Owner(s) may be referred to as the “Parties”, where by Buyer shall purchase and Owner shall sell five (5) Registered/Member Week(s) in a 2 Bedroom Unit in Grand Mayan in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco in Mexico with Buyer’s ownership and usage commencing with 2018 Intervals (hereinafter “Timeshare”);

Wiring instructions for closing were exchanged, see I had to pay the federal tax to mexico's SAT and checking that site and getting tax info from IRS and what I thought was legitimately the mx authority, I wired the tax (and which I also have the IRS form 1116) to file for my taxes on tax paid to Mexico on income.

My bank when doing the wire, had no issues sending it.

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In August of 2017, we were contact by phone by Bay View Properties at 1601 5th Ave., Seattle, Washington, stating that Grupo Modelo of Mexico, was in the process of purchasing over 100 timeshare resales in Cabo San Lucas and were interested in buying our property. We received documentation from Benchmark Escrow on behalf of Banco Santander, SAT of Mexico, Banco del Bajio, Miguel Acevedo Torres of Grupo Modelo, all involved in the purchase. The contract stated that the buyer would reimburse us for all taxes and fees in the final sale price, and we would be liable for a 7% commission fee.

This is proving to be a complete scam, fraudulent at all levels. The buyer does not exist nor does Grupo Modelo list him as an employee. The contacts at Banco Santander conducted a phone call with us, but he nor his branch manager have been available since. Bay View and Benchmark are both listed in the BBB site as fraudulent along with various scam sites.

Those involved included:

Michael Copeland, Benchmark Escrow

Frank Wursten, Benchmark Escrow

David Forester, Bay View Property Management

Brian West, Bay View Property Management

Miguel Acevedo Torres, Grupo Modelo

Luis Antonio Macias Lemus, Banco Sandander

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I was contacted by a company called Bayview Property Management by a man named Daniel Hope to buy my existing timeshare from Mayan Properties in Mexico. After being assured that I wouldn't have to pay any money up front, I was then sent to Benchmark Escrow and a man named Michael Copeland who sent me very legitimate looking paperwork with regarding the transfer of the property in question. As it turned out of course they needed me to pay the taxes to the Mexican government for 10% of the selling price which was $2654. Michael Copeland passed me onto another gentleman by the name of Frank Wursten who took over because Michael was going on vacation. I wired that money to a Mexican Bank account. All the paperwork looked more than legit. The biggest reason I'd sent an additional $2124 for municipal taxes that needed to be paid (which conveniently happened after the earthquake in Mexico City) was because I had initially looked up Benchmark Escrow on the BBB at the very beginning of this and it was given an A+ rating. Coupled with the very legitimate looking paperwork, I thought all was above board. I now come to find that there was a scam reported on October 4th, after I'd sent my initial taxes. I didn't think to check it again after they'd required the additional taxes. Today, (October 23rd) they now want me to pay a transfer fee required by the Mayan Palace before they can transfer the money. I had already told Frank Wursten that I was practically tapped out and I couldn't afford the $3800 dollars they were asking. He said that he went to a lot of trouble and said that the best he could do was get Benchmark to pay half of that and that I was to sign a promissory note to pay them back after the funds were received. That's when I looked up Benchmark again only to find this new information about them having issues. Again, the people I spoke with were Daniel Hope from Bayview Properties,(206-483-0053) Michael Copeland (206-565-0004) from Benchmark and Frank Wursten (206-866-0788) from Benchmark. I have been in contact with both Frank Wursten and Michael Copeland just this evening and Copeland has now assured me that I will be getting a complete refund of my monies as I have cancelled the sale due to lack of funds that I can no longer forward as well as my new concern that this is a total scam. I will be updating this later as the funds won't be reimbursed for at least a couple of months. His response to my lastest search of them, was that "Anyone can write anything on the internet." Frank Wursten said something similar. As an aside, Copeland was significantly less cordial in comparison to my first conversation with him. The only upside is that I at least received follow up calls from them this evening regardless of my quoting the write-ups on the BBB and Scamguard ( https://www.scamguard.com/benchmark-escrow-inc/) which was even less flattering and named more familiar names I'd been dealing with. At worst, I've lost $4778.00 to a very well tooled scam or I get back what I'd initially paid out and perhaps mildly insulted a couple of guys in Seattle. If you need anymore paperwork I can forward several more documents.

Bayview information is: (206) 483-0053

Bay View Property Management LLC

1601 5th Ave

Seattle, WA 98101

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