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

Altogether 14 defendants have been convicted for their part in a £28 million conspiracy to defraud in excess of 3,500 vacation property owners.

The targets were eager to exit long-standing vacation property deals and tried to find help.

The majority were in the age range of 60 and 80. More than 500 of them parted with over £10,000, and a single victim handed over in excess of £80,000.

Those affected were subjected to intense presentations extending for six hours. They were out of money, holding valueless fake "credits" and remained bound by high-priced timeshare contracts they frequently were unable to use.

The Firm At the Heart of the Scam

The business at the centre of the scam was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They took people's money to fund the proprietors' lavish lifestyle of private schools, high-end properties and personal aircraft.

The leader at the top of the company, the company director, was given a seven-and-half year sentence in January for deceptive scheme.

On Friday, his spouse one of the co-defendants was part of the concluding cases to learn their fate.

She was given a two-year suspended jail sentence at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to illegal fund handling.

It has been a extended wait and marks a major victory for the individuals who testified, the police and legal representatives.

The Way the Inquiry Started

The initial awareness of the company came in the that particular year. I was working in the research department of a broadcasting service, making investigative shows.

A friend pointed out that his mum had assumed the rights of a vacation unit in Spain and, after long-term use, had started seeking to exit the agreement.

It's worth mentioning how common vacation properties had evolved with English tourists in the eighties and nineties.

Timeshares allowed families to access the identical property every year, or swap their weeks with additional holders who had units in different locations. About 600,000 sun-lovers accepted that option.

The initial boom was accompanied by a numerous reports about unscrupulous sellers deceptively promoting investments. They were regularly featured on investigative TV programmes.

The common vacation property deal bound owners for long periods.

At that time, those investors who had experienced their assigned property in the sunshine for 20 or 30 years were advancing in years, and a significant number were attempting to end their association to their timeshares.

Some had health issues and found it difficult to access their units. Some just felt they'd got all they wanted from them. And others had died, in frequent situations leaving their loved ones to assume the contracts - including their regular contributions and upkeep costs.

The Undercover Operation Unfolds

And that's where the friend's mum had found herself. She browsed the internet for answers and found the organization, a business whose digital platform assured to get her out of her deal.

Yet, having submitted funds and arranged an appointment with them, her loved ones became suspicious.

Further research revealed numerous individuals claiming they had handed over cash and got nothing from the service. In fact, they had been left out of pocket. A lot of it.

The reporting group commenced probing what was occurring. It soon emerged that there were some shady characters working within the timeshare resale sector.

One lawyer had numerous client reports aiming to litigate against the organization.

Reporters contacted individuals who had used the firm and they all told the same story. They assumed the firm would acquire their investment away from them but when they attended a meeting (for which they submitted funds initially) they were told there was no market for their property.

Instead, they were encouraged - indeed coerced - to spend more money acquiring "the company's points system", linked to the organization's holding firm, the overarching entity.

The nature of these rewards was somewhat vague. They sounded like a kind of currency, giving access to cheaper vacations and amenities and shopping deals.

And they were seemingly "tradable" with additional holders, eventually.

Investing money up front now would lead to an future return that would offset the firm's costs and leave the timeshare holder ahead financially, released finally from their pesky agreement.

An unbelievable offer? Certainly, that proved correct.

A 'Misleading Scheme'

Assuming these reports were accurate, this was a major deception.

It's what is called a "deceptive marketing."

An operator - in this case the company - "attracts the client by promoting a particular product and then claim it is unavailable, steering the individual in the direction of a different, lower-quality product or service.

This is against the law. Equipped with all the testimony we had gathered, we made the case to discreetly video one of the organization's sessions.

This takes commitment, energy, and compelling reasons for why this is the exclusive approach to obtain the data necessary to demonstrate illegal activity.

With approval secured, our compact group arranged a appointment with one of the organization's staff in the English town.

Pretending to be a ordinary individual hoping to get his mum free from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement