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Prosecutors have labeled it as among the biggest frauds of its nature in the UK.

In all 14 individuals have been convicted for their role in a multi-million pound scheme to cheat more than 3,500 vacation property owners.

The targets were desperate to terminate decades-old vacation property deals and tried to find support.

The majority were aged between 60 and 80. In excess of 500 of them lost more than £10,000, and one transferred over £80,000.

Those victimized were subjected to intense presentations continuing for six hours. They were out of money, possessing useless fake "credits" and continued to be trapped in costly holiday ownership agreements they could no longer use.

The Firm Central to the Scam

The company at the heart of the scheme was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They collected customers' funds to support the proprietors' lavish way of life of prestigious schooling, luxury homes and private jets.

The man at the top of the firm, the company director, was sentenced to a 90-month prison term in January for conspiracy to defraud.

On Friday, his spouse Nicola was among the last group to learn their fate.

She received a two-year suspended jail sentence at the London court after pleading guilty to money laundering.

The outcome represents a long time coming and represents a significant success for the victims who came forward, the police and prosecutors.

How the Probe Started

I first heard about SMT came in the summer of 2016. The position was in the research department of a broadcasting service, making documentary programmes.

A friend mentioned that his mother had taken over the rights of a holiday property in Spain and, after decades of vacations, had started seeking to exit the deal.

It should be noted how popular holiday ownership had grown with English tourists in the last decades of the 20th century.

Vacation properties enabled families to occupy the equivalent unit every year, or trade their weeks with additional holders who had units in other resorts. About 600,000 vacation seekers accepted that opportunity.

The early surge was linked to a many reports about unscrupulous sellers deceptively promoting properties. They were regularly featured on investigative shows.

The typical timeshare contract tied investors in for decades.

At that time, those owners who had used their guaranteed place in the sun for decades were advancing in years, and a significant number were attempting to end their association to their timeshares.

Several had health issues and were unable to visit their apartments. A few just felt they'd got all they wanted from them. And some had deceased, in many cases leaving their heirs to assume the contracts - plus their annual payments and maintenance fees.

The Undercover Operation Develops

It was at this point the relative had found herself. She looked online for answers and discovered SMT, a firm whose website claimed to release her from her agreement.

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

Additional investigation revealed many victims reporting they had submitted funds and received no benefit out of it. In fact, they had been left out of pocket. Substantial amounts.

Our team began investigating what was happening. It soon emerged that there were some shady characters working within the holiday ownership market.

One lawyer had hundreds of individual complaints waiting to sue the company.

We spoke to individuals who had engaged the company and they all told the same story. They assumed the business would purchase their timeshare from them but when they participated in a session (for which they submitted funds initially) they were advised there was no re-sale value.

In place of that, they were pushed - indeed pressured - to commit further cash acquiring "the firm's incentive scheme", linked to the organization's holding firm, Monster Travel.

The nature of these rewards was somewhat vague. They appeared to be a kind of currency, giving access to reduced-price holidays and services and shopping deals.

And they were reportedly "exchangeable with additional holders, at a future date.

Paying cash at the time would produce an long-term benefit that would cover the company's charges and leave the investor with a gain, liberated eventually from their pesky agreement.

An unbelievable offer? Indeed, it was.

A 'Bait-and-Switch Scam'

If these accounts were accurate, this was a large-scale fraud.

This is known as a "deceptive marketing."

An operator - specifically the company - "lures the client by advertising a specific service but then to claim it is unavailable, steering the customer in the direction of an alternative, lesser offering.

That's illegal. Equipped with all the testimony we had assembled, we made the case to covertly record one of the firm's consultations.

Such an operation demands commitment, energy, and strong justifications for why this is the exclusive approach to collect the evidence needed to prove wrongdoing.

Once authorized, our compact group arranged a appointment with one of the company's representatives in the English town.

Pretending to be a member of the public hoping to get his mum free from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement