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

Altogether 14 individuals have been sentenced for their role in a multi-million pound plot to defraud more than 3,500 vacation property owners.

The victims were keen to exit decades-old timeshare contracts and went looking for support.

A large number were in the age range of 60 and 80. In excess of 500 of them lost more than £10,000, and a single victim handed over more than £80,000.

Those affected were exposed to aggressive sales meetings continuing for six hours. They were financially worse off, owning useless fake "points" and remained trapped in expensive timeshare contracts they frequently were unable to use.

The Firm Central to the Deception

The business at the centre of the fraud was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They accepted clients' cash to fund the directors' opulent lifestyle of exclusive education, high-end properties and personal aircraft.

The individual at the top of the company, Mark Rowe, was handed a seven and a half year prison term in January for conspiracy to defraud.

Recently, his partner Nicola was part of the concluding cases to hear their sentences.

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

This has been a long time coming and marks a huge win for the individuals who testified, the police and the Crown.

How the Investigation Was Initiated

I first heard about SMT came in the summer of 2016. The role involved in the reporting team of a media outlet, producing investigative features.

A colleague pointed out that his mum had inherited the rights of a timeshare apartment in Spain and, after years of holidays, had started seeking to terminate the deal.

It should be noted how popular timeshares had become with UK travelers in the last decades of the 20th century.

Vacation properties allowed people to occupy the equivalent unit every year, or trade their weeks with fellow investors who had units in other resorts. About 600,000 vacation seekers seized that opportunity.

The first timeshare rush was linked to a numerous stories about unscrupulous sellers mis-selling investments. They became a staple on public interest broadcasts.

The typical holiday ownership agreement locked buyers for many years.

In that period, those investors who had experienced their assigned property in the resort for a long time were getting older, and many were looking to end their association to their timeshares.

Some had reduced ability to travel and found it difficult to access their apartments. Some just believed they'd achieved their goals from them. And others had deceased, in numerous instances leaving their loved ones to assume the deals - including their regular contributions and service charges.

The Undercover Operation Progresses

This was the situation the relative had been placed. She browsed the internet for options and found SMT, a business whose digital platform assured to release her from her deal.

Yet, having submitted funds and scheduled a consultation with them, her family became suspicious.

Additional investigation showed many victims reporting they had submitted funds and got nothing out of it. Actually, they had suffered financially. A lot of it.

Our team began investigating what was happening. It was rapidly apparent that there were questionable operators operating in the vacation property industry.

An attorney had many grievance cases preparing to take action against the organization.

Reporters contacted clients who had dealt with the organization and they collectively described identical situations. They believed the company would acquire their investment off them but when they attended a meeting (for which they made an advance payment) they were informed there was no market for their property.

In place of that, they were encouraged - in fact pressured - to spend more money acquiring "the company's points system", associated with the organization's holding firm, the overarching entity.

What exactly these were was not exactly clear. They appeared to be a form of credit, giving access to reduced-price holidays and services and retail offers.

And they were seemingly "transferable with fellow investors, some time down the line.

Committing funds at the time would lead to an long-term benefit that would cover the company's charges and leave the property owner in profit, liberated eventually from their burdensome deal.

An unrealistic promise? Well, yes.

A 'Bait-and-Switch Scheme'

Assuming these reports were accurate, this was a large-scale fraud.

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

An operator - specifically SMT - "lures the consumer by promoting a defined offering only to then state it cannot be provided, steering the customer towards a different, lower-quality product or service.

That's illegal. Equipped with all the accounts we had collected, we presented the rationale to discreetly video one of the organization's sessions.

The process requires time, effort, and strong justifications for why this is the only way to obtain the evidence necessary to confirm deceptive practices.

Armed with that permission, our compact group organized a consultation with one of the organization's staff in the English town.

Acting as a ordinary individual wanting to get his mum out of her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement