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It has been described as among the biggest deceptions of its type in the United Kingdom.

Altogether 14 people have been sentenced for their role in a £28 million scheme to swindle over 3,500 timeshare investors.

The victims were keen to exit decades-old vacation property deals and tried to find help.

A large number were in the age range of 60 and 80. In excess of 500 of them surrendered more than £10,000, and one individual paid in excess of £80,000.

Those affected were faced intense presentations lasting up to six hours. They were out of money, owning useless fake "credits" and continued to be trapped in expensive timeshare contracts they frequently were unable to use.

The Company Behind the Deception

The firm at the heart of the fraud was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They accepted clients' cash to support the owners' lavish lifestyle of prestigious schooling, millionaire mansions and exclusive air travel.

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

Recently, his partner one of the co-defendants was part of the concluding cases to receive sentencing.

She received a 24-month suspended jail sentence at the London court after pleading guilty to illegal fund handling.

The outcome represents a extended wait and represents a major victory for the victims who came forward, the police and legal representatives.

How the Investigation Was Initiated

The initial awareness of the company emerged during the mid-2016. I was working in the reporting team of a news organization, making documentary programmes.

A friend pointed out that his mum had taken over the rights of a timeshare apartment in a European resort and, after long-term use, had started seeking to exit the contract.

It is important to recall how widespread timeshares had become with English tourists in the eighties and nineties.

Timeshares allowed individuals to use the identical property annually, or exchange their vacation periods with other owners who had units in other resorts. Roughly 600,000 holiday enthusiasts accepted that option.

The first timeshare rush was paired with a numerous reports about unscrupulous sellers mis-selling investments. They appeared frequently on consumer shows.

The common timeshare contract bound owners for long periods.

By 2016, those investors who had enjoyed their assigned property in the sun for decades were advancing in years, and a large proportion were hoping to say farewell to their timeshares.

Some had declining mobility and were unable to visit their properties. Some just felt they'd enjoyed sufficient use from them. And some had died, in many cases leaving their family members to inherit the agreements - plus their annual payments and upkeep costs.

The Undercover Operation Develops

And that's where the relative had ended up. She looked online for options and came across the company, a business whose online presence promised to terminate her deal.

But, having paid a fee and arranged an appointment with them, her loved ones smelled a rat.

Further research showed many victims reporting they had handed over cash and achieved no result from the service. Actually, they had lost money. A lot of it.

The reporting group began investigating what was occurring. It quickly became clear that there were dubious individuals active in the timeshare resale sector.

A legal professional had hundreds of individual complaints waiting to sue SMT.

The team interviewed people who had engaged the company and they all told the same story. They thought the business would purchase their timeshare away from them but when they participated in a session (for which they paid up front) they were told there was no potential buyers.

In place of that, they were encouraged - indeed compelled - to spend more money investing in "the firm's incentive scheme", linked to the business's umbrella group, Monster Travel.

The nature of these rewards was not exactly clear. They sounded like a kind of currency, offering reduced-price holidays and amenities and consumer discounts.

And they were reportedly "exchangeable with other owners, eventually.

Paying cash at the time would result in an long-term benefit that would offset SMT's fees and result in the investor ahead financially, released finally from their pesky deal.

An unrealistic promise? Certainly, that proved correct.

A 'Bait-and-Switch Scam'

If these accounts were correct, this was a major deception.

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

A business - specifically the organization - "lures the client by advertising a particular product only to then state it cannot be provided, pushing the client to an alternative, lesser offering.

This is against the law. Equipped with all the testimony we had assembled, we presented the rationale to discreetly video one of the company's meetings.

The process requires dedication, work, and strong justifications for why this is the exclusive approach to gather the information necessary to demonstrate illegal activity.

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

Pretending to be a potential client hoping to help his mother out of her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement