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It has been described as one of the largest frauds of its type in the UK.

A total of 14 individuals have been sentenced for their role in a multi-million pound scheme to defraud over 3,500 vacation property holders.

The victims were keen to terminate age-old timeshare contracts and sought out support.

A large number were from 60 and 80. More than 500 of them parted with over £10,000, and a single victim handed over over £80,000.

Those victimized were faced intense consultations continuing for six hours. They were left out of pocket, owning useless fake "points" and still locked into costly timeshare contracts they frequently were unable to use.

The Firm Central to the Deception

The company at the core of the scam was the organization in question. They accepted clients' cash to support the directors' opulent standard of living of private schools, luxury homes and exclusive air travel.

The man at the top of the firm, the main defendant, was handed a seven-and-half year jail time in January for fraudulent conspiracy.

In the latest development, his wife Nicola was one of the final three to learn their fate.

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

This has been a long time coming and represents a significant success for the victims who came forward, the law enforcement and the Crown.

The Way the Inquiry Started

I first heard about the company emerged during the mid-2016. I was working in the investigations unit of a news organization, making current affairs shows.

A friend pointed out that his mother had taken over the rights of a timeshare apartment in the Spanish coast and, after decades of vacations, had commenced searching to terminate the agreement.

It is important to recall how common timeshares had grown with UK travelers in the eighties and nineties.

Vacation properties allowed families to occupy the same accommodation each season, or trade their vacation periods with additional holders who had apartments in other resorts. About 600,000 vacation seekers seized that chance.

The initial boom was accompanied by a many reports about rip-off merchants mis-selling properties. They became a staple on public interest TV programmes.

The standard timeshare contract bound owners for decades.

At that time, those owners who had experienced their guaranteed place in the sunshine for 20 or 30 years were ageing, and many were hoping to say farewell to their holiday properties.

A number had declining mobility and found it difficult to access their apartments. Others just believed they'd enjoyed sufficient use from them. And a portion had deceased, in frequent situations bequeathing their family members to assume the agreements - along with their yearly fees and maintenance fees.

The Undercover Operation Unfolds

This was the situation the relative had been placed. She browsed the internet for solutions and discovered the organization, a enterprise whose website assured to get her out of her contract.

Yet, having paid a fee and booked a meeting with them, her family became suspicious.

Further research revealed hundreds of people claiming they had handed over cash and achieved no result in return. Indeed, they had lost money. Significant sums.

Our team started looking into what was happening. It soon emerged that there were questionable operators operating in the holiday ownership market.

An attorney had hundreds of individual complaints preparing to take action against the company.

We spoke to individuals who had used the firm and they all told the same story. They thought 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 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 organization's holding firm, the overarching entity.

The precise definition was not exactly clear. They sounded like a form of credit, giving access to cheaper vacations and benefits and consumer discounts.

And they were apparently "exchangeable with fellow investors, some time down the line.

Committing funds at the time would produce an future return that would offset SMT's fees and allow the timeshare holder in profit, released finally from their burdensome deal.

An unbelievable offer? Certainly, that proved correct.

A 'Bait-and-Switch Scheme'

Based on these descriptions were correct, this was a massive scam.

The technique is termed a "misleading sales."

An operator - specifically the company - "baits" the consumer by marketing a defined offering and then claim it is unavailable, directing the client towards an alternative, lesser product or service.

Such practices are unlawful. Armed with all the accounts we had assembled, we made the case to discreetly video one of the firm's consultations.

This takes commitment, energy, and compelling reasons for why this is the only way to collect the information necessary to prove wrongdoing.

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

Posing as a member of the public wanting to help his mother free from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement