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It has been described as one of the largest scams of its type in the Britain.

Altogether 14 people have been convicted for their part in a £28 million scheme to defraud more than 3,500 timeshare holders.

The affected individuals were desperate to get out of long-standing holiday ownership agreements and tried to find support.

Most were from 60 and 80. More than 500 of them surrendered over £10,000, and one individual paid in excess of £80,000.

Those targeted were subjected to high-pressure presentations lasting up to six hours. They were out of money, possessing useless fake "rewards" and remained bound by costly holiday ownership agreements they frequently were unable to use.

The Company Behind the Scam

The business at the centre of the scam was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They collected people's money to support the owners' lavish standard of living of private schools, luxury homes and private jets.

The man at the helm of the company, Mark Rowe, was sentenced to a seven and a half year prison term in January for fraudulent conspiracy.

On Friday, his spouse Nicola was part of the concluding cases to learn their fate.

She received a 24-month suspended prison term at Southwark Crown Court after confessing to financial crime.

This has been a long time coming and marks a major victory for the individuals who testified, the police and legal representatives.

How the Probe Started

I first heard about SMT emerged during the summer of 2016. The role involved in the reporting team of a news organization, creating documentary shows.

A friend noted that his mother had inherited the ownership of a holiday property in a European resort and, after long-term use, had commenced searching to get out of the deal.

It's worth mentioning how popular holiday ownership had become with British holidaymakers in the eighties and nineties.

Timeshares allowed families to access the equivalent unit annually, or trade their time slots with additional holders who had properties in alternative destinations. Roughly 600,000 sun-lovers seized that opportunity.

The early surge was paired with a lot of stories about rip-off merchants fraudulently marketing investments. They became a staple on investigative broadcasts.

The common holiday ownership agreement locked buyers for decades.

In that period, those investors who had used their regular accommodation in the resort for 20 or 30 years were advancing in years, and many were hoping to wave goodbye to their timeshares.

A number had declining mobility and were unable to visit their apartments. A few just thought they'd enjoyed sufficient use from them. And others had passed away, in numerous instances passing on their loved ones to take over the deals - plus their regular contributions and service charges.

The Undercover Operation Develops

This was the situation the family member had ended up. She browsed the internet for solutions and discovered the organization, a firm whose online presence claimed to get her out of her agreement.

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

Subsequent checking revealed many victims saying they had paid money and got nothing out of it. Actually, they had lost money. Significant sums.

The investigative unit commenced probing what was happening. It quickly became clear that there were some shady characters active in the timeshare resale sector.

A legal professional had hundreds of individual complaints aiming to litigate against SMT.

Reporters contacted clients who had used the firm and they collectively described identical situations. They assumed the company would acquire their investment away from them but when they participated in a session (for which they submitted funds initially) they were informed there was no re-sale value.

Rather, they were persuaded - actually coerced - to invest additional funds investing in "Monster Rewards", linked to the business's umbrella group, Monster Travel.

The nature of these rewards was not exactly clear. They appeared to be a kind of currency, giving access to cheaper vacations and amenities and consumer discounts.

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

Paying cash at the time would lead to an eventual payoff that would pay for the firm's costs and allow the investor in profit, freed at last from their pesky deal.

An unbelievable offer? Well, yes.

A 'Bait-and-Switch Scheme'

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

This is known as a "bait-and-switch."

Someone - in this case SMT - "attracts the customer by marketing a particular product only to then say that's not available, directing the client towards an alternative, lesser offering.

This is against the law. Equipped with all the evidence we had collected, we made the case to discreetly video one of the firm's consultations.

Such an operation demands commitment, energy, and clear arguments for why this is the only way to gather the data needed to confirm deceptive practices.

With approval secured, our small team arranged a appointment with one of the firm's agents in the English town.

Acting as a member of the public wanting to get his mum free from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement