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Unauthorized Soliciations:

Unauthorized Solicitations and Possible Scams are now joined together to reinforce the importance of being alert. We don't want to be paranoid, but we do want to be careful.

Cold calling is fine. Sales personnel have to generate leads somehow, and sometimes, the cold call is the appropriate way to reach out.

However, there is a big difference between selling legitimate products and services and trolling for naive, trusting individuals. Taking advantage of a person's naïveté for money is unconscionable.

There is a fine line between wanting, trusting, releasing personal information on blind faith and conducting a meaningful level of due diligence. Sometimes, gut reactions are alright. But other times, paying money without proper due diligence could be lost forever.

Part of the service we provide is a database of sorts. This page provides a listing of alleged companies that, through their representatives, have presented themselves as legitimate parties who want to buy your timeshare. Interesting stories...yes. But very dangerous. Do not fall into temptation.

Please send us your experiences and company names so we can post them here and in the Possible Scam pages.

Thank you for your participation. Without it, this would be a blank page!

2024-07-23 A big Thank You is sent to Nino for keeping us updated with all the scam warnings.

You all have received calls from phone numbers you don't recognize. We receive easily 4 to 5 calls on both our home and mobil devices every day. It's irritating, and you likely have chosen to reduce your anxiety by not answering the call.

Good for you!

There is good reason to avoid wasting your time on these cold calls. Several Aimfair Members trusted the callers and ended up losing multiple thousands of dollars. And these are very smart, seasoned timeshare owners.

What attracts timeshare owners is the strong desire to sell the contract or rent available weeks for a profit. However, when it sounds too good to be true, it isn't. The end result is frustration, lost money, and knowing there is no way to get back the money you sent the scammer.

Recently, the FBI has been interrupting cartel operated companies and call centers. You need to read the articles to improve your resistance to accepting calls from unknown parties:


  • Mexican cartels cashing in on hundreds of millions of dollars in online timeshare scam that targets older Americans seen on Law Enforcement Today: Timeshare Fraud Schemes











  • Podcast: Veteran scammed by drug cartel in $900K timeshare fraud on boingboing.net: He didn't know...




  • A Mexican Drug Cartel Runs Time-Share Scam, Part 1 by AARP.org: The Perfect Scam

If you made it this far and looked at some of the articles, you are well prepared to understand when you might be subjected to a scam and what to do about it.

All these articles lead to the same conclusion: Scammers are only out to take your money, not give you money! So the only way we can control scammers? DON'T SEND THEM MONEY!

Thank you Nino and others....


2024-06-20 “Hello, may I speak with Mr. Robert Jones?” Is how the phone call I received this morning started out. The caller said she was from Priceline, and she wanted to discuss our interest in participating in an affiliates program with their company.

I had submitted information to a company that now owns VRBO to learn more about their program. I thought I sent the inquiry to the right company, but it seems that was not the case.

Regardless, the purpose of this post is to show how clever the scammers are becoming. The email I received was a Welcome email, referencing the phone call I accepted this morning Customer Service. The letter goes on to say the letter I received is generally sent with formal letter of intent to purchase and a financial disclosure agreement for me to review.

Of course, I am not interested in any of the information the individual sent. But what did interest me was the alignment the fake company with name brands such as Booking.com, Priceline.com, OpenTable, Kayak, Agoda servicing the Asian market and Rentalcars.com. All of these are under the Booking Holdings, Inc. umbrella. The attached image shows the ownership chart for Booking Holdings.

It so happens Booking Holdings Inc is a public company with a closing quote of $3,972.08 today but $3,973.91 in after hours trading. Big company with lots of news. That should be very interesting, right?

Well, hold on a minute. Let’s look at the email address for the person who sent me the Welcome letter. It is bookingsholdinginc.com. This domain was formed 112 days ago.

How about bookingholding.com? No this domain was formed 485 days ago.

Neither one of these domains appear to have the strength of a public company. That is because the actual domain for the real company is bookingholdings.com. This domain was formed on December 21, 2017, 2,373 days ago.

Here is an image of the companies related to Booking Holdings. You can see the real companies that are associated with the real company.

Booking Holdings, Inc. is real - Bookings Holding is not.
The companies under Booking Holdings, Inc. Umbrella.


I have no idea what the offer from the scammer would be, and I won’t spend one minute more thinking about it. What I am interested in is making sure all our members see how easy it is to verify the legitimacy of a company and to be very careful about trusting someone you don’t know.

Remember, the only way to stamp out scams is very easy! DON’T SEND MONEY!


2024-06-11 Here is a scam that has been around the block since 2021 and before. The alleged company is called 360 Global Trades. The domain (360globaltrades.com) is 194 days old, it was created on 2023-11-30, it expires on 2024-12-01 and it was last updated on 2023-11-30.

Here is our Aimfair Member's comments:

We just so happened to answer our phone (we get 2-3 marketing calls a day about our Vidanta membership) and a company by the name of 360 Global Trades based out of Atlanta Georgia called and said we have shares most likely worth over $40,000 USD. He gave us a phone number 1-855-327-9595 to Marian Vallarta, and we asked for the finance department. We spoke with a woman named Sara, and she asked for the main membership person's client number. She gave us a booking number to give to the broker but said that if we did not deal with the share certificates by June 13th, they become property of Vidanda. Has anyone ever heard of this? Note that Sara offered us 4 weeks at the Grand Luxxe in exchange for these shares....what's up with that!??!

Sara did say that a booking number was mailed to us in 2023 - we did not receive such a letter and certainly given the value of such letter, you would think Vidanda would have mailed it registered. So, either this is real and hundreds of Vidanda members are getting screwed out of shares or this whole thing is a scam!! The 360 Global Trades number is 678-888-4644.....

After searching the internet, and then calling 360 Global Trades back, I called. Vidanta confirmed that this is nothing but a scam. 360 Global Trades did not get any information from us that they didn't already have (our names, member numbers, address, etc.). Vidanta did confirm that several Vidanta members have been scammed by this group.....I have to say they were pretty good and appeared pretty legit.

What really frustrates us is how do they know so much about our membership and personal information when such information was never given to them by us???

Bob, this scam is a "big push" as they create urgency around the "Vidanda share option expiring in a couple of days". So, if you are unsuspecting and "don't want to miss out on the wall of cash", you may be temped to follow through.

I am supposed to be getting a phone call back tomorrow from 360 Global Trades https://360globaltrades.com/ by someone that goes by Jacob Dale regarding our 223 shares valued at $635.25 USD each in Desarrollo Marina Vallarta (supposedly owned by Vidanta) and to set up an account for this.....I would imagine this is where they gain all that personal info plus banking/brokerage information etc. to eventually scam you. Anyway, we have been subject to hundreds if not in the thousands of scam calls and the like and this one appeared real but digging much deeper - NOT!. You wonder how these guys can constantly change the vibe and make this crap up??? As always, call Vidanta to confirm everything.


This is not a new scam. Lawyer’s Assistant at wrote about the same type of scam. Tap the link to read about the scam.

Generally, here’s how it works:

  • Vidanta member is told he or she is a beneficial shareholder in Desarrollo Marina Vallarta LLC
  • Broker offers to liquidate Member’s shares.
  • Member sets up an account in investment bank.
  • Investment bank then informs Member shares are sold and proceeds are in the bank.
  • But, before releasing funds, Member must pay $20,000 penalty fee for not filing some document.
  • Member needs to pay before a fictitious date, at which time his account expires.

Sound like a scam? Indeed it does!

Help Stamp Out Scammers….Don’t Send Money!



2024-06-05 Thank you Nino for bringing to our attention the reason to not send money to anyone you don't know.

The story Nino shares with everyone is about a Veteran who purchased a timeshare somewhere near Lake Tahoe in California or Nevada. The location is not important. The terms of the purchase are: $8,900 cash in 1996.

After not using the facilities for many years, he got a call in 2022 from one of our friendly, well spoken, very convincing sales persons, offering to buy his contract for the unbelievable amount of $22,470. Music to his and his wife's ears!

Well, not so fast.

First comes the request for fees that will be paid out of the proceeds when deposited into the escrow account in New York: $2,500

More fees pop up over the next several months.

Then, the alleged director of International Accounts for Banco de Mexico calls with a request for
$16,155 erase of records, insurance and notary fees.

Over the ensuing months, the victim's wife contracts cancer, while at the same time more fees and expenses are piling up. Finally, after nearly a million dollars has been transferred to the scammers, the victim contacts his lawyer.

His lawyer learns his client has fallen into the web of the Jalisco Cartel through one of its many call centers. These call centers employ very slick sales people who say they have a buyer for the property the victim owns, and convinces the victim to pay money to complete the sale.

The unfortunate side of stories like these is the victim is a trusting person, and the sales person is convincing. The agent, who is supposed to protect the victim, is part of the deal. The victim does no due diligence. And the agent does no due diligence. He is not operating with the victim's best interests in mind.

There are so many of these stories posted on the Internet. They are posted here on Aimfair too. It will take a massive drive to bring to everyone's attention the dark side of accepting a cold caller's offer that is too good to be true.

Tap the following link to read the article published by News Nation Now: $8,900 timeshare sells for $900,000 - Not!

Remember, only YOU can help stamp out scams - DON'T SEND MONEY!


2024-05-13 James wanted to share his latest experience with a scammer. The concept has been around for years. The story goes Vidanta is going public and we, as owners of Vidanta timeshare interests, should be owners of certain shares and Vidanta is hiding that fact from us. Here is what James had to say:
We are longtime “Grande Luxxe” members and a couple of years ago bought a small amount of “Kingdom of the sun”. We are always looking forward to our Vacation in Mexico and have no complaints. We are constantly receiving Scam call requests to sell or rent but ignore those.

Today I had a call from a lady in New York with a new “to me” presentation. The Company she’s representing is: Trade Center Inc., 60 Broad Street, New York. Her Name is “Abigail Rose Bell”.

She indicated that as members of the Vidanta Co. we should be owners of certain shares in the Company and that Vidanta is hiding that information from us because they are planning to go Public on the New York Stock exchange. She threw out a figure of about 90 shares valued at $1049 USD as an example for us.

As I didn’t tell her our investment in Vidanta I assume its all chatter. She indicated that in Mexico the company doesn’t have to tell owners about the shares we supposedly have. She gave me a # to call Vidanta Financial Dept. 844-760-2237 an obtain a “Book Entry # which would indicate the Number of shares we have if Vidanta hasn’t already taken them. ?? I checked out Trade Centre Inc. BBB and although that address is a 30 story Office centre the BBB has no record of that Company in New York. Her phone # is 917-540-8307 ext1002. She was a smooth talking lady and should be a closer for our “Vida Sales” 😃.

I casually asked her if she drives in New York, she indicated she used the Subway to commute to work and does drive. I asked her to take a photo of her drivers license and Message it to my cell phone as she had my personal number. There was a pregnant pause and she took offence. Then quickly added that they weren’t allowed their Cell phone at work. It’s surely not a grade 6 schoolroom so thats a stretch. I’m passing this along to you folks FYI. Enjoy yourselves in Cabo.
Yes, we did have a great time in San Jose del Cabo. But we did not find anything out about James' scam lead. We could not find a company called Trade Center, Inc. in New York. There was no connection to the telephone number given. Bottom line: SCAM. Stay away.

By the way, the idea that Vidanta is going or has ready gone public and we contract owners are deserving of shares is old news. Laughable, actually.

No, there is no truth to the idea that Vidanta is going to publicly list their shares on an exchange somewhere. Vidanta is well financed with funds from the sale of timeshare contracts. There is no need for Vidanta to enter the world of publicly traded stock. Way too many headaches.

Anyway, thank you James for thinking of us and our community. We are now duly warned: Don't believe the non-sense. No need to engage in a conversation about your personal interests in Vidanta with someone you don't know.

Remember: Only You can help Stamp Out Scams - Don't Send Money!!


2024-04-25 Scams and spammers are all over the place. They are like nasty no-see-ums. You are innocently walking along a path in shorts and a couple of hours later you start scratching! Where did you get those bites and why didn't you see them?

One of the most effective methods scammers and spammers us is the warning email. Your service is about to be shut off unless you contact the sender by tapping the link in the email.

DON'T TAP THE LINK! Yes, don't tap the link until you hover over the link to see where it takes you.

Notice the link in the photo that appears below: The address in the link is to something called "gateway.lighthouse.storage". This domain has had 365 changes on 365 unique IP addresses over 3 years. No, that is not Networksolutions.com. Delete!

Hovering over the reply to address shows where your reply actually will go.
Check legitimacy by hovering over the reply address in a suspect email.

The only way we all can protect ourselves against spams and scammers is to shut them out! Don't reply to anything that you don't recognize. Check email addresses and domains to confirm legitimacy. If we all do that and DON'T SEND MONEY TO PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW, we will all do our part to help stamp out scams.


2024-02-24 Do you trust someone you can't find info on? You're not alone! An article in USA Today hits home. It tells the story of a dad and husband who buys a timeshare, thinking it's perfect for family vacations. It starts great but then life changes, and the timeshare sits unused. Annual costs rise, but use drops. Sound familiar?

You can read the article in total by tapping this link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2024/02/22/thousands-of-americans-fall-prey-to-mexican-cartel-cjng-timeshare-scam/72695295007/

Cold-call salespeople excel at selling scams. The article details a timeshare owner trying to sell. He's contacted by a caller claiming a buyer offers more than he paid. Tempted, he skips due diligence and pays into escrow, being told that all funds paid into escrow are refundable. But more requests follow, draining him until he realizes it's a scam.

He hires a lawyer, but it's too late. It's a cautionary tale of losing $1.8 million to a telemarketing scam. Aimfair Members seek our advice on deals, but red flags like young domains, fake addresses, and missing licenses scream danger. Still, they trust, lose money, and regret it.

Are timeshare owners too trusting? The article hints at a pattern. Many struggle to say no to promising faces, even if they're strangers. It's a wake-up call to learn to refuse deals that seem too good to be true.

Remember, only YOU can help stamp out scammers! Don't Send Money!



2024-02-17 Nino received an email from a person who claimed to be an attorney with ASF (Auditoria Superior de la Federation) and shared his conversations with Aimfair. Nino is very good at identifying scams.

The emailer wanted personal information. She claimed to be an official with a Mexican Federal Government agency called Auditoria Superior de la Federation that actually specializes in large scale audits. Additionally, she claimed to be an attorney, in an attempt to impress Nino with her credentials, level of authority and trust factor.

Her pitch is similar to those made by other fake Mexican government officials. She claimed Nino's name is on lists of names that have been defrauded by criminal organizations. Internal audits performed by different government agencies have generated lists of "harmed" individuals. Since the information on file is incomplete, she is contacting Nino and others on the list to allow the Mexican government to take action against these organizations. To close out the audits, she asked Nino to participate by providing more information about themselves and the timeshare interests they own. You can read the email exchange between Nino and the lawyer by tapping the following link:


Email From: investigaciones@auditoriasuperiorfederal.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 6, 2024
To: Nino
Subject: A.S.F.
 
To: Aimfair Member Nino,
 
I am the lawyer of the Superior Audit of the Federation, Ana Lucía Parra Vega, and I am trying to contact you from the international processes area of this department, to tell you that we have information on names of people who have been defrauded and in some way have been victims of criminal organizations and for which they are on the first list.
 
It is my obligation to inform you that due to the audits carried out in some internal government agencies to the cases of fraud and money laundering registered in recent years and that must be closed this year, your name is repeated on different occasions in which you are It links bank accounts that are currently closed since complaints of criminal actions and money laundering were registered.
These audits do not provide a broad understanding of who the potential victims are and where we should focus but clearly you are or were a potential victim, unfortunately in most cases these organizations are strengthened by the lack of citizen complaints. You were a potential victim of this type of fraud by having a vacation membership, which makes you vulnerable to continuing to be a victim of fraud and indirectly helping organized crime.
 
Our intention is to communicate with you and be able to collect more real information and report on your behalf and thus be able to demonstrate that in reality these cases of fraud exist and the government should not continue to ignore this whole problem where foreign citizens have been defrauded.
 
Every six months in this department, complaints from two previous years are received and we exhaustively and exhaustively investigate each and every one of the cases that we have thanks to these federal audits carried out and in relation to organized crime, it is the reason that we have in our power countless government agencies that have been used to make fictitious accusations and make the victim believe that they are actually being treated legally and effectively by these companies, until the time comes when the victims can no longer comply with the request for more and more and more money transfers and that is when they realize that they are victims and that it is simply a criminal organization specialized in money laundering, fraud, exchange of personal data in which you have been complicit and which he has contributed to promoting and maintaining is active.
 
We are closing cases and in many of them we even recover part of your loss. If you are interested in having us review your case and provide you with the best solution, do not hesitate to contact us.
 
It would be great if you could send me your phone number to corroborate my information and also to avoid making calls until we confirm that you are interested.
 
In any case, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me and we will be happy to answer you.

Without further ado for the moment and hoping to hear from you soon, I say goodbye.
 
“Mexico is more than crimes and insecurity.”
Ana Lucía Parra Vega''




De: Nino
Enviado el: Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Para: investigaciones at auditoriasuperiorfederal.com  
Asunto: RE: A.S.F.
 
No interest.
 
You are also a fraudster and a scammer.
 
Do not contact me any more.
 
Nino


Response from ASF Lawyer:
From: investigaciones at auditoriasuperiorfederal.com 
Sent: Tuesday, February 6, 2024 4:47 PM
To: Nino
Subject: A.S.F.

What makes you think we are?
Ana Lucía Parra Vega



Nino’s Response:
From: Nino
Sent: Tuesday, February 6, 2024
To: investigaciones at auditoriasuperiorfederal.com 
Subject: RE: A.S.F.
 
I’m glad that you asked.
 
See excerpt from U.S. Government Press Release.
 
"At times, perpetrators of timeshare fraud misuse government agency names in attempts to appear legitimate. For example, perpetrators may call victims and claim to represent OFAC, demanding a payment in exchange for the release of funds that the perpetrator claims OFAC has “blocked.” On March 2, 2023, OFAC issued an alert regarding such scams, warning that individuals may falsely claim to represent OFAC in furtherance of their fraud."
 
"Treasury Takes Third Action Against CJNG Timeshare Fraud Network Centered in Puerto Vallarta | U.S. Department of the Treasury"



Response from ASF Lawyer:
From: investigaciones at auditoriasuperiorfederal.com 
Sent: Wednesday, February 7, 2024 12:00 PM
To: Nino
Subject: A.S.F.
 
Mr. Nino,
 
Very good, thank you for letting me know your answer, and the truth is that there is indeed a lot of fraud today and unfortunately you are very vulnerable to falling into this type of fraud, when I say you I am referring to people like you who have a hard time, But I introduce myself again, I am Ana Lucia Parra Vega, I work for the international processes department of the Federal Audit Offices, our job in this department is to analyze the information collected from the audits carried out on the internal departments of our own Mexican government, from the which we found anomalies in the accounts used to make payments that unfortunately link them with Criminal Organizations, by carrying out audits we are at the forefront in Money Laundering situations.
 
The reason we contacted you is because in 2017, a company called ESCAPE WITH TRAVELS called you, from which they shared a couple of emails and that is why your name is mixed up.
 
In our investigation, we have other people linked to this fictitious travel agency that is dedicated to the purchase of vacation memberships and in some way makes the client make payments before receiving any benefit, here at ASF, we have a lot of information from you, Mr. Nino, which cannot be used without your authorization, that is why we sent you a message to see if you would like to join this investigation and if you have any loss of money, try to see how the government, with the help of the Frozen accounts that have been identified as coming from criminal offenses may or may not recover your loss, but if you were not a monetary victim then this email is not for you and I apologize in advance.
 
In our records we have that your phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx and that your membership is at Grand Luxx in Puerto Vallarta.
 
We hope that you have not suffered any embezzlement but if otherwise you want to recover any losses, please do not hesitate to contact me.
 
Thank you and have a very good day.


Nino’s response:

From: Nino
Sent: Wednesday, February 7, 2024 12:14 PM
To: investigaciones at auditoriasuperiorfederal.com 
Subject: RE: A.S.F.
 
Thank-you for your response Ana.
 
I have not suffered any losses and do not recall talking with Escape with Travels.
 
I do NOT authorize the use of any of my personal information.
 
Regards,
 
Nino


I sent an email to Auditoria Superior de la Federation for confirmation of the statements made by the attorney. The response confirmed the alleged lawyer is a scam. Here is an excerpt from the email I received from an ASF official:

"....the exercise of the powers that were conferred on this Institution, are limited to the inspection of the Federal Public Account of the previous year, in order to verify, among other elements , financial management and the performance of the executors of federal public resources...."
The alleged attorney is clearly making false and misleading statements.

Bottom line - always look at the email sender's domain. Any Mexican Federal employee will not send emails from a domain ending in .com. Scam!!!

Thank you Nino. We all appreciate you sharing your conversations with the scammer!


2024-01-20 An offer to rent multiple weeks - up to 80 guests - came in today.

It looked phishy, so I looked up the domain. Sure enough, the domain called "knirghtfrank.com" is not registered.

Here is the email:


Hello,
We, Stella and Joe, are excited about the possibility of hosting our wedding at your event venue around August or September. Anticipating a guest count of 55-80, we have a few questions for you or your event team.

Could you please inform us of any minimum spend requirements? Regarding decoration, do you provide this service or should we arrange a decorator separately? Additionally, what details would you need from us to furnish a quotation or an approximate cost?

It would be greatly appreciated if you could include a wedding brochure or wedding package in your response to assist us in planning our budget.

Best regards,

Stella and Joe
Don't be pulled in by this inquiry. The email address is stellacarllee at knirghtfrank.com.

How long ago do you think the domain knirghtfrank.com was formed? Based on Stella and Joe's email and the fact that we want to rent our weeks, we are going to drop our guard and respond.

Guess what? The domain is for sale.

This photo shows the results of a search for information about the domain that sent a questionable email.
The results from a search on Whois.domaintools.com shows the domain is for sale and not registered.


knrightfrank.com domain - the same one that sent me an email - is for sale!

So, why would I consider doing anything with a group that I can't confirm is real. An email is a logical way to connect. An email sent by a domain that is for sale is a scam.

I would not, and neither should you.

Be aware that this offer will be coming to you soon.



2023-12-15 We received the following from Nino, Aimfair's #1 scam investigator. Nino has uncovered so many scams, it is amazing he and we still receive more. One would think the scammers would highlight those individuals who are onto their scheme.

Here is what Nino sent us:
Hi Bob,

Here is another new scam – City Point Realty out of Salt Lake.

They have a pretty slick website – but what gives it away is that the social media links go nowhere. They don’t have any postings on Linkedin, etc.

Talk to you soon.

Regards,

Nino

From: Nino Silvestri
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2023 8:52 AM
To: matthew-vandal1 at citypointrealestate.net
Subject: RE: Greetings from City Point

Hi Matthew,

As discussed, I checked out City Point Realty – and didn’t take me long to see that City Point is a scam.

City Point has a negative rating on Scam Adviser, and many negative customer reviews. One review is below.

Although your website looks pretty slick – when you click on the social media links, it goes nowhere. Nice try.

Don’t contact me anymore.

Nino Silvestri

Rogers says:
August 17, 2023 at 6:19 am
I’ve been contact by City Point Real Estate based in Utah and it’s the same people mentioned above. They had my old contract information and told me they want to buy out my contract. They provided a 1 page document with the offer. I was first contacted by Joseph Colombo. After I agreed to look further into it, I was contacted by Robert Gallagher. The next day, he had the one page document with the offer. I signed the offer and the next day he told me a bank account with Banorte Bank in Mexico has created. He provided a 1 page document with my name and the funds deposited by the buyer. The next step he claims is there is a permit required to by purchased from the Mexican government to do business in Mexico. Thanks to all those above, I now know it is a complete scam. I have notified Palace Elite.

Emailer contact information:

From: matthew-vandal1 at citypointrealestate.net
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2023 7:20 PM
To: ninosilvestri at xxxxx.com
Subject: Greetings from City Point

City Point Real Estate is a privately owned brokerage company, founded in 2015. Our vast expertise in the international real estate industry gives us a competitive advantage over the rest in this fast-paced business. We offer a personalized service, always representing the interest of our clients.

Matthew Joseph Vandal
Senior Broker
International Real Estate Broker
Phone: +1 385-475-6320
Fax: +1 385-325-0896
City Point Real Estate Property Experts
10 W. Broadway
Salt Lake City UT, 84101
Thank you Nino. Your diligence is helping all of us.

Remember - Only You can help stop scams - Don't Send Money!




Thank you for keeping us updated....

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