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Prosecutors have labeled it as a major deceptions of its kind in the UK.

Altogether 14 defendants have been found guilty for their part in a multi-million pound scheme to swindle over 3,500 timeshare holders.

The victims were eager to exit decades-old vacation property deals and sought out assistance.

A large number were in the age range of 60 and 80. Over 500 of them parted with in excess of £10,000, and one transferred more than £80,000.

Those victimized were subjected to intense consultations lasting up to six hours. They were financially worse off, possessing useless fake "credits" and remained locked into costly holiday ownership agreements they frequently were unable to use.

The Business At the Heart of the Scam

The business at the centre of the fraud was the timeshare resale company. They took clients' cash to fund the directors' lavish standard of living of prestigious schooling, millionaire mansions and exclusive air travel.

The man at the head of the company, the company director, was handed a seven-and-half year prison term in January for fraudulent conspiracy.

On Friday, his partner Nicola was among the last group to receive sentencing.

She was handed a two-year suspended jail sentence at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to money laundering.

It has been a lengthy process and represents a huge win for the individuals who testified, the police and legal representatives.

The Way the Probe Was Initiated

The initial awareness of the company was in the that particular year. I was working in the reporting team of a media outlet, producing documentary programmes.

A friend mentioned that his mum had taken over the ownership of a holiday property in a European resort and, after years of holidays, had started seeking to exit the deal.

It is important to recall how widespread timeshares had evolved with British holidaymakers in the last decades of the 20th century.

Timeshares enabled people to access the identical property every year, or exchange their weeks with additional holders who had units in other resorts. Approximately 600,000 holiday enthusiasts took up that option.

The first timeshare rush was linked to a many reports about dishonest operators mis-selling investments. They appeared frequently on public interest shows.

The standard holiday ownership agreement locked buyers for many years.

At that time, those holders who had enjoyed their assigned property in the resort for 20 or 30 years were ageing, and a large proportion were looking to wave goodbye to their vacation investments.

Some had declining mobility and couldn't get to their properties. Others just believed they'd enjoyed sufficient use from them. And others had died, in numerous instances passing on their loved ones to inherit the agreements - plus their yearly fees and service charges.

The Undercover Operation Unfolds

This was the situation the relative had been placed. She searched the web for answers and discovered SMT, a enterprise whose website assured to get her out of her agreement.

But, having submitted funds and scheduled a consultation with them, her relatives had doubts.

Further research uncovered hundreds of people saying they had submitted funds and got nothing from the service. In fact, they had been left out of pocket. A lot of it.

Our team commenced probing what was occurring. It quickly became clear that there were questionable operators active in the timeshare resale sector.

A legal professional had numerous client reports preparing to take action against SMT.

Reporters contacted clients who had engaged the company and they each reported similar experiences. They assumed the company would purchase their timeshare away from them but when they attended a meeting (for which they paid up front) they were informed there was no potential buyers.

Instead, they were persuaded - indeed pressured - to commit further cash investing in "Monster Rewards", named after the outfit's parent company, the parent organization.

What exactly these were was not exactly clear. They seemed similar to a form of credit, giving access to reduced-price holidays and benefits and retail offers.

And they were apparently "transferable with other owners, some time down the line.

Investing money up front now would result in an future return that would cover SMT's fees and leave the investor in profit, released finally from their burdensome deal.

An unbelievable offer? Indeed, it was.

A 'Misleading Scheme'

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

This is known as a "bait-and-switch."

An operator - here SMT - "lures the consumer by promoting a defined offering only to then claim it is unavailable, steering the client to an alternative, lesser offering.

That's illegal. Possessing all the accounts we had assembled, we presented the rationale to secretly film one of the organization's sessions.

Such an operation demands commitment, energy, and clear arguments for why this is the exclusive approach to collect the information needed to demonstrate illegal activity.

Armed with that permission, our limited crew set up a meeting with one of the company's representatives in the English town.

Pretending to be a potential client wanting to help his mother released from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement