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It has been described as one of the largest frauds of its kind in the Britain.

In all 14 people have been found guilty for their part in a £28 million scheme to cheat in excess of 3,500 vacation property investors.

The targets were keen to terminate long-standing holiday ownership agreements and went looking for help.

Most were aged between 60 and 80. In excess of 500 of them lost in excess of £10,000, and one individual paid in excess of £80,000.

Those targeted were faced aggressive consultations continuing for six hours. They were out of money, owning valueless fake "points" and still bound by high-priced holiday ownership agreements they often use.

The Business Central to the Fraud

The firm at the heart of the scheme was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They collected clients' cash to support the directors' lavish standard of living of private schools, luxury homes and exclusive air travel.

The leader at the top of the company, the main defendant, was handed a seven-and-half year jail time in January for conspiracy to defraud.

Recently, his partner Nicola was part of the concluding cases to learn their fate.

She was handed a 24-month suspended prison term at the London court after pleading guilty to financial crime.

The outcome represents a long time coming and marks a major victory for the victims who came forward, the police and legal representatives.

How the Probe Began

The first knowledge of SMT emerged during the that particular year. I was working in the research department of a news organization, making investigative features.

A colleague pointed out that his parent had assumed the use of a timeshare apartment in Spain and, after years of holidays, had started seeking to get out of the agreement.

It's worth mentioning how popular timeshares had evolved with British holidaymakers in the last decades of the 20th century.

Holiday ownership enabled people to access the same accommodation every year, or swap their time slots with fellow investors who had properties in different locations. Approximately 600,000 sun-lovers took up that option.

The first timeshare rush was accompanied by a numerous reports about rip-off merchants mis-selling units. They were regularly featured on public interest broadcasts.

The standard timeshare contract locked buyers for long periods.

At that time, those owners who had used their assigned property in the resort for decades were getting older, and many were hoping to wave goodbye to their timeshares.

Some had declining mobility and found it difficult to access their apartments. A few just thought they'd achieved their goals from them. And a portion had passed away, in frequent situations leaving their family members to assume the deals - along with their annual payments and maintenance fees.

The Undercover Operation Unfolds

It was at this point the relative had found herself. She looked online for answers and came across SMT, a firm whose website claimed to get her out of her contract.

However, having submitted funds and arranged an appointment with them, her relatives became suspicious.

Further research revealed many victims reporting they had submitted funds and got nothing in return. In fact, they had lost money. A lot of it.

The investigative unit started looking into what was happening. It quickly became clear that there were dubious individuals operating in the timeshare resale sector.

One lawyer had numerous client reports preparing to take action against SMT.

The team interviewed people who had dealt with the organization and they collectively described identical situations. They thought the firm would buy their property away from them but when they went to a consultation (for which they submitted funds initially) they were told there was no re-sale value.

Instead, they were pushed - in fact pressured - to spend more money acquiring "Monster Rewards", associated with the outfit's parent company, the parent organization.

The precise definition was not exactly clear. They sounded like a kind of currency, offering cheaper vacations and services and shopping deals.

And they were reportedly "exchangeable with additional holders, eventually.

Paying cash immediately would produce an eventual payoff that would pay for the firm's costs and result in the timeshare holder ahead financially, released finally from their burdensome agreement.

An unbelievable offer? Indeed, it was.

A 'Misleading Scheme'

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

The technique is termed a "misleading sales."

A business - in this case the organization - "lures the consumer by advertising a defined offering only to then state it cannot be provided, pushing the customer towards another, inferior offering.

That's illegal. Equipped with all the testimony we had assembled, we argued to covertly record one of the organization's sessions.

This takes time, effort, and strong justifications for why this is the only way to collect the information necessary to confirm deceptive practices.

Once authorized, our compact group organized a consultation with one of the firm's agents in the English town.

Pretending to be a member of the public wanting to help his mother out of her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement