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

In all 14 individuals have been convicted for their part in a £28m plot to cheat more than 3,500 timeshare investors.

The targets were eager to get out of decades-old timeshare contracts and tried to find support.

The majority were from 60 and 80. Over 500 of them lost more than £10,000, and one individual paid over £80,000.

Those targeted were faced intense consultations extending for six hours. They were left out of pocket, owning valueless fake "credits" and still trapped in expensive vacation property deals they could no longer use.

The Company Central to the Fraud

The firm at the centre of the scam was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They accepted clients' cash to support the owners' opulent way of life of exclusive education, millionaire mansions and personal aircraft.

The man at the helm of the firm, the main defendant, was handed a seven-and-half year prison term in January for fraudulent conspiracy.

On Friday, his partner one of the co-defendants was one of the final three to hear their sentences.

She was handed a 24-month suspended prison term at Southwark Crown Court after confessing to money laundering.

The outcome represents a lengthy process and marks a significant success for the individuals who testified, the law enforcement and legal representatives.

How the Investigation Started

The first knowledge of the firm was in the that particular year. The position was in the investigations unit of a news organization, making documentary shows.

A friend mentioned that his mother had taken over the rights of a holiday property in Spain and, after decades of vacations, had commenced searching to get out of the deal.

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

Vacation properties allowed individuals to use the equivalent unit annually, or swap their weeks with additional holders who had units in other resorts. Approximately 600,000 vacation seekers accepted that opportunity.

The early surge was paired with a lot of stories about rip-off merchants mis-selling properties. They appeared frequently on consumer shows.

The standard vacation property deal locked buyers for many years.

In that period, those investors who had used their regular accommodation in the resort for 20 or 30 years were advancing in years, and a significant number were attempting to say farewell to their timeshares.

Several had health issues and were unable to visit their properties. A few just thought they'd got all they wanted from them. And a portion had passed away, in many cases bequeathing their loved ones to assume the agreements - along with their regular contributions and service charges.

The Covert Probe Unfolds

And that's where the relative had been placed. She looked online for solutions and discovered the company, a business whose online presence assured to get her out of her contract.

Yet, having submitted funds and scheduled a consultation with them, her family had doubts.

Further research revealed many victims reporting they had handed over cash and achieved no result in return. In fact, they had been left out of pocket. A lot of it.

Our team began investigating what was happening. It quickly became clear that there were some shady characters working within the timeshare resale sector.

A legal professional had numerous client reports aiming to litigate against the company.

Reporters contacted individuals who had used the firm and they collectively described identical situations. They assumed the business would purchase their timeshare away from them but when they attended a meeting (for which they submitted funds initially) they were told there was no market for their property.

Instead, they were persuaded - indeed coerced - to commit further cash acquiring "the company's points system", linked to the outfit's parent company, the parent organization.

The precise definition was somewhat vague. They seemed similar to a form of credit, providing reduced-price holidays and benefits and consumer discounts.

And they were reportedly "transferable with fellow investors, eventually.

Committing funds up front now would produce an long-term benefit that would offset the firm's costs and leave the property owner in profit, liberated eventually from their troublesome deal.

An unrealistic promise? Well, yes.

A 'Deceptive Scheme'

If these accounts were correct, this was a massive scam.

It's what is called a "deceptive marketing."

Someone - in this case the organization - "lures the client by marketing a defined offering but then to say that's not available, directing the individual in the direction of an alternative, lesser product or service.

This is against the law. Armed with all the testimony we had gathered, we made the case to discreetly video one of the firm's consultations.

This takes dedication, work, and clear arguments for why this is the only way to obtain the information needed to prove wrongdoing.

With approval secured, our compact group organized a meeting with one of the organization's staff in the location.

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