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It has been described as one of the largest scams of its kind in the UK.

In all 14 defendants have been convicted for their involvement in a £28m scheme to defraud more than 3,500 timeshare investors.

The affected individuals were desperate to terminate long-standing holiday ownership agreements and tried to find support.

The majority were in the age range of 60 and 80. Over 500 of them lost more than £10,000, and one handed over over £80,000.

Those affected were subjected to high-pressure consultations extending for six hours. They were left out of pocket, holding useless fake "credits" and continued to be bound by high-priced holiday ownership agreements they could no longer use.

The Business Behind the Deception

The business at the heart of the scheme was the timeshare resale company. They collected clients' cash to finance the directors' lavish way of life of exclusive education, luxury homes and private jets.

The individual at the head of the company, the company director, was sentenced to a seven and a half year sentence in January for conspiracy to defraud.

On Friday, his wife Nicola was one of the final three to hear their sentences.

She was given a two-year long suspended jail sentence at the judicial venue after pleading guilty to illegal fund handling.

It has been a lengthy process and signifies a major victory for the victims who came forward, the authorities and prosecutors.

How the Investigation Began

The initial awareness of the firm was in the that particular year. The position was in the research department of a media outlet, producing investigative shows.

A colleague pointed out that his parent had assumed the use of a timeshare apartment in Spain and, after long-term use, had begun looking to exit the deal.

It is important to recall how common holiday ownership had grown with UK travelers in the 1980s and 1990s.

Timeshares enabled families to access the same accommodation annually, or swap their vacation periods with additional holders who had properties in alternative destinations. Roughly 600,000 vacation seekers seized that option.

The early surge was paired with a lot of stories about rip-off merchants fraudulently marketing units. They were regularly featured on consumer shows.

The standard timeshare contract bound owners for decades.

At that time, those investors who had experienced their assigned property in the sun for a long time were getting older, and a large proportion were attempting to end their association to their timeshares.

A number had health issues and were unable to visit their apartments. Some just believed they'd enjoyed sufficient use from them. And a portion had died, in frequent situations bequeathing their loved ones to inherit the contracts - including their regular contributions and upkeep costs.

The Investigation Unfolds

It was at this point the relative had been placed. She browsed the internet for answers and discovered the company, a enterprise whose website promised to release her from her contract.

But, having submitted funds and arranged an appointment with them, her family smelled a rat.

Additional investigation uncovered hundreds of people reporting they had submitted funds and received no benefit from the service. Indeed, they had suffered financially. A lot of it.

The reporting group commenced probing what was going on. It was rapidly apparent that there were dubious individuals working within the timeshare resale sector.

One lawyer had hundreds of individual complaints preparing to take action against the organization.

The team interviewed people who had engaged the company and they each reported similar experiences. They believed the firm would purchase their timeshare off them but when they went to a consultation (for which they paid up front) they were told there was no re-sale value.

In place of that, they were persuaded - indeed compelled - to commit further cash investing in "the company's points system", associated with the organization's holding firm, the overarching entity.

The precise definition was rather ambiguous. They appeared to be a type of exchange medium, offering cheaper vacations and services and consumer discounts.

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

Investing money up front now would result in an future return that would cover the firm's costs and result in the timeshare holder ahead financially, liberated eventually from their troublesome agreement.

An unrealistic promise? Well, yes.

A 'Deceptive Scam'

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

The technique is termed a "bait-and-switch."

An operator - here SMT - "lures the consumer by marketing a particular product and then state it cannot be provided, directing the client towards an alternative, lesser product or service.

That's illegal. Armed with all the accounts we had collected, we argued to covertly record one of the organization's sessions.

This takes time, effort, and clear arguments for why this is the sole method to gather the evidence needed to prove wrongdoing.

Once authorized, our small team organized a meeting with one of the organization's staff in the English town.

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