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

Altogether 14 people have been convicted for their involvement in a £28 million scheme to swindle over 3,500 vacation property owners.

The targets were eager to exit long-standing timeshare contracts and tried to find assistance.

The majority were from 60 and 80. In excess of 500 of them surrendered over £10,000, and one transferred over £80,000.

Those targeted were faced high-pressure presentations lasting up to six hours. They were financially worse off, holding useless fake "points" and remained trapped in costly holiday ownership agreements they often use.

The Business Central to the Deception

The firm at the heart of the scheme was the timeshare resale company. They accepted customers' funds to finance the owners' lavish lifestyle of private schools, millionaire mansions and exclusive air travel.

The individual at the head of the organization, the main defendant, was given a seven-and-half year sentence in January for conspiracy to defraud.

In the latest development, his wife Nicola was one of the final three to receive sentencing.

She was handed a two-year suspended jail sentence at the London court after pleading guilty to illegal fund handling.

This has been a lengthy process and signifies a huge win for the people who spoke out, the law enforcement and the Crown.

The Way the Investigation Began

The first knowledge of SMT was in the mid-2016. I was working in the research department of a news organization, making investigative features.

A friend pointed out that his parent had inherited the use of a holiday property in a European resort and, after decades of vacations, had started seeking to get out of the agreement.

It is important to recall how common timeshares had grown with British holidaymakers in the 1980s and 1990s.

Holiday ownership allowed individuals to use the same accommodation each season, or swap their time slots with fellow investors who had apartments in alternative destinations. About 600,000 sun-lovers took up that option.

The first timeshare rush was accompanied by a lot of stories about rip-off merchants fraudulently marketing investments. They became a staple on consumer broadcasts.

The typical vacation property deal locked buyers for long periods.

At that time, those investors who had experienced their regular accommodation in the sun for decades were getting older, and many were hoping to end their association to their holiday properties.

Several had declining mobility and found it difficult to access their units. Others just felt they'd enjoyed sufficient use from them. And some had deceased, in numerous instances leaving their heirs to take over the deals - plus their annual payments and maintenance fees.

The Undercover Operation Develops

And that's where the friend's mum had ended up. She looked online for answers and came across SMT, a business whose online presence assured to release her from her deal.

Yet, having made a payment and arranged an appointment with them, her loved ones became suspicious.

Further research showed hundreds of people saying they had handed over cash and achieved no result from the service. Indeed, they had suffered financially. Significant sums.

The investigative unit began investigating what was happening. It was rapidly apparent that there were questionable operators active in the vacation property industry.

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

Reporters contacted people who had dealt with the organization and they all told the same story. They believed the company would buy their property away from them but when they went to a consultation (for which they submitted funds initially) they were informed there was no re-sale value.

Rather, they were encouraged - in fact coerced - to invest additional funds purchasing "Monster Rewards", associated with the business's umbrella group, Monster Travel.

What exactly these were was rather ambiguous. They seemed similar to a type of exchange medium, providing discount travel and amenities and retail offers.

And they were reportedly "exchangeable with other owners, at a future date.

Committing funds up front now would result in an eventual payoff that would pay for the firm's costs and allow the timeshare holder ahead financially, freed at last from their troublesome deal.

An unbelievable offer? Indeed, it was.

A 'Deceptive Scheme'

Assuming these reports were true, this was a massive scam.

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

An operator - here SMT - "attracts the customer by marketing a specific service but then to state it cannot be provided, pushing the customer in the direction of another, inferior product or service.

Such practices are unlawful. Possessing all the evidence we had gathered, we argued to secretly film one of the company's meetings.

Such an operation demands time, effort, and compelling reasons for why this is the exclusive approach to gather the information necessary to demonstrate illegal activity.

Armed with that permission, our small team set up a consultation with one of the company's representatives in the English town.

Pretending to be a member of the public aiming to assist his parent out of her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement