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Authorities have called it as among the biggest scams of its nature in the UK.

In all 14 defendants have been convicted for their role in a multi-million pound conspiracy to defraud over 3,500 holiday ownership holders.

The affected individuals were eager to exit decades-old timeshare contracts and tried to find assistance.

A large number were in the age range of 60 and 80. More than 500 of them surrendered more than £10,000, and a single victim transferred more than £80,000.

Those targeted were faced intense sales meetings lasting up to six hours. They were left out of pocket, owning valueless fake "rewards" and still trapped in expensive holiday ownership agreements they often use.

The Firm At the Heart of the Scam

The firm at the core of the fraud was the timeshare resale company. They accepted clients' cash to finance the owners' lavish standard of living of private schools, luxury homes and private jets.

The individual at the head of the firm, the main defendant, was sentenced to a 90-month sentence in January for fraudulent conspiracy.

Recently, his spouse one of the co-defendants was among the last group to receive sentencing.

She was given a two-year suspended prison term at the London court after pleading guilty to money laundering.

It has been a lengthy process and represents a significant success for the people who spoke out, the police and legal representatives.

The Way the Probe Started

The first knowledge of the firm emerged during the that particular year. I was working in the reporting team of a news organization, making current affairs programmes.

A acquaintance mentioned that his mum had inherited the rights of a timeshare apartment in Spain and, after decades of vacations, had commenced searching to terminate the contract.

It is important to recall how widespread timeshares had evolved with British holidaymakers in the last decades of the 20th century.

Timeshares enabled individuals to access the equivalent unit annually, or trade their time slots with fellow investors who had apartments in different locations. Roughly 600,000 vacation seekers took up that option.

The early surge was linked to a many stories about unscrupulous sellers mis-selling investments. They appeared frequently on consumer broadcasts.

The standard vacation property deal bound owners for many years.

In that period, those owners who had enjoyed their guaranteed place in the sun for decades were getting older, and a significant number were hoping to end their association to their holiday properties.

A number had reduced ability to travel and were unable to visit their apartments. Others just thought they'd achieved their goals from them. And others had died, in frequent situations passing on their loved ones to inherit the contracts - including their annual payments and upkeep costs.

The Investigation Develops

And that's where the friend's mum had found herself. She browsed the internet for solutions and found SMT, a firm whose online presence promised to release her from her agreement.

However, having made a payment and scheduled a consultation with them, her family had doubts.

Further research revealed numerous individuals reporting they had submitted funds and received no benefit from the service. In fact, they had suffered financially. Significant sums.

The investigative unit began investigating what was going on. It soon emerged that there were questionable operators operating in the timeshare resale sector.

A legal professional had many grievance cases waiting to sue the organization.

We spoke to clients who had dealt with the organization and they each reported similar experiences. They believed the business would purchase their timeshare from them but when they went to a consultation (for which they submitted funds initially) they were told there was no re-sale value.

In place of that, they were encouraged - indeed coerced - to commit further cash acquiring "the firm's incentive scheme", linked to the organization's holding firm, the parent organization.

The nature of these rewards was somewhat vague. They seemed similar to a form of credit, giving access to discount travel and amenities and retail offers.

And they were apparently "tradable" with other owners, eventually.

Paying cash at the time would result in an eventual payoff that would pay for the firm's costs and result in the property owner ahead financially, freed at last from their troublesome agreement.

An unrealistic promise? Indeed, it was.

A 'Bait-and-Switch Tactic'

Based on these descriptions were true, this was a major deception.

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

A business - in this case the company - "attracts the client by marketing a specific service and then state it cannot be provided, directing the individual towards another, inferior option.

Such practices are unlawful. Possessing all the evidence we had gathered, we made the case to covertly record one of the organization's sessions.

This takes time, effort, and strong justifications for why this is the sole method to gather the information required to prove wrongdoing.

Armed with that permission, our small team arranged a consultation with one of the firm's agents in the English town.

Acting as a potential client wanting to help his mother out of her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement