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It has been described as among the biggest scams of its type in the UK.

In all 14 defendants have been sentenced for their involvement in a multi-million pound conspiracy to cheat in excess of 3,500 timeshare investors.

The victims were desperate to get out of age-old timeshare contracts and tried to find help.

A large number were aged between 60 and 80. In excess of 500 of them parted with in excess of £10,000, and a single victim handed over over £80,000.

Those affected were exposed to aggressive presentations continuing for six hours. They were out of money, owning worthless fake "credits" and remained trapped in expensive holiday ownership agreements they often use.

The Company Behind the Fraud

The firm at the heart of the scheme was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They accepted people's money to fund the owners' luxurious standard of living of prestigious schooling, luxury homes and personal aircraft.

The man at the top of the firm, the main defendant, was sentenced to a seven and a half year sentence in January for fraudulent conspiracy.

Recently, his wife another individual was among the last group to receive sentencing.

She was handed a two-year long deferred imprisonment at the judicial venue after pleading guilty to financial crime.

It has been a long time coming and marks a significant success for the victims who came forward, the authorities and the Crown.

The Way the Investigation Started

I first heard about the company came in the mid-2016. I was working in the investigations unit of a news organization, making investigative programmes.

A friend noted that his mum had inherited the use of a holiday property in the Spanish coast and, after long-term use, had started seeking to terminate the agreement.

It's worth mentioning how common timeshares had evolved with English tourists in the last decades of the 20th century.

Holiday ownership allowed families to occupy the identical property every year, or trade their time slots with additional holders who had apartments in alternative destinations. Approximately 600,000 vacation seekers took up that chance.

The initial boom was linked to a numerous reports about rip-off merchants deceptively promoting units. They became a staple on consumer shows.

The common vacation property deal bound owners for many years.

In that period, those investors who had experienced their guaranteed place in the sunshine for 20 or 30 years were advancing in years, and a significant number were looking to wave goodbye to their timeshares.

A number had reduced ability to travel and couldn't get to their apartments. Some just thought they'd got all they wanted from them. And a portion had died, in many cases bequeathing their family members to take over the agreements - including their annual payments and maintenance fees.

The Covert Probe Develops

This was the situation the family member had been placed. She searched the web for answers and discovered the organization, a enterprise whose website claimed to terminate her agreement.

However, having made a payment and arranged an appointment with them, her relatives had doubts.

Further research showed numerous individuals claiming they had paid money and achieved no result out of it. In fact, they had lost money. A lot of it.

Our team began investigating what was going on. It was rapidly apparent that there were questionable operators operating in the holiday ownership market.

One lawyer had many grievance cases preparing to take action against the company.

Reporters contacted clients who had engaged the company and they all told the same story. They assumed the company would purchase their timeshare from them but when they attended a meeting (for which they made an advance payment) they were advised there was no re-sale value.

In place of that, they were encouraged - actually compelled - to commit further cash purchasing "the company's points system", named after the business's umbrella group, the overarching entity.

What exactly these were was somewhat vague. They sounded like a form of credit, offering discount travel and amenities and retail offers.

And they were seemingly "tradable" with fellow investors, some time down the line.

Committing funds immediately would produce an eventual payoff that would pay for the firm's costs and leave the investor in profit, liberated eventually from their troublesome contract.

An unbelievable offer? Certainly, that proved correct.

A 'Misleading Scam'

Based on these descriptions were accurate, this was a major deception.

It's what is called a "bait-and-switch."

Someone - in this case the organization - "baits" the customer by marketing a defined offering only to then state it cannot be provided, pushing the individual in the direction of an alternative, lesser offering.

Such practices are unlawful. Equipped with all the evidence we had gathered, we argued to discreetly video one of the company's meetings.

This takes time, effort, and clear arguments for why this is the only way to gather the evidence required to prove wrongdoing.

Armed with that permission, our limited crew arranged a appointment with one of the firm's agents in the location.

Pretending to be a ordinary individual aiming to help his mother released from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement