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Prosecutors have labeled it as one of the largest scams of its kind in the UK.

A total of 14 individuals have been found guilty for their involvement in a £28m plot to cheat over 3,500 timeshare investors.

The victims were desperate to get out of decades-old timeshare contracts and tried to find support.

A large number were from 60 and 80. Over 500 of them lost over £10,000, and one handed over more than £80,000.

Those victimized were subjected to intense consultations lasting up to six hours. They were out of money, owning useless fake "credits" and continued to be bound by expensive holiday ownership agreements they often use.

The Business At the Heart of the Scam

The business at the centre of the scam was the timeshare resale company. They took clients' cash to finance the directors' luxurious standard of living of prestigious schooling, luxury homes and private jets.

The leader at the top of the firm, the company director, was handed a seven-and-half year prison term in January for fraudulent conspiracy.

On Friday, his wife Nicola was one of the final three to hear their sentences.

She received a two-year deferred imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court after admitting money laundering.

It has been a long time coming and marks a huge win for the people who spoke out, the police and prosecutors.

The Way the Inquiry Began

The first knowledge of SMT was in the summer of 2016. The position was in the investigations unit of a media outlet, making current affairs shows.

A friend pointed out that his mum had inherited the use of a timeshare apartment in Spain and, after decades of vacations, had commenced searching to get out of the agreement.

It should be noted how popular holiday ownership had evolved with English tourists in the eighties and nineties.

Holiday ownership allowed families to occupy the same accommodation annually, or exchange their weeks with fellow investors who had properties in different locations. Roughly 600,000 vacation seekers took up that chance.

The initial boom was paired with a numerous stories about dishonest operators fraudulently marketing properties. They were regularly featured on public interest broadcasts.

The standard holiday ownership agreement tied investors in for many years.

In that period, those investors who had enjoyed their regular accommodation in the sunshine for decades were advancing in years, and many were hoping to wave goodbye to their holiday properties.

Some had declining mobility and couldn't get to their apartments. A few just felt they'd enjoyed sufficient use from them. And some had passed away, in many cases bequeathing their heirs to inherit the deals - including their yearly fees and upkeep costs.

The Undercover Operation Unfolds

It was at this point the friend's mum had been placed. She searched the web for options and found the company, a enterprise whose digital platform assured to release her from her agreement.

However, having paid a fee and arranged an appointment with them, her loved ones became suspicious.

Further research uncovered numerous individuals reporting they had submitted funds and got nothing in return. In fact, they had been left out of pocket. A lot of it.

Our team began investigating what was occurring. It was rapidly apparent that there were some shady characters operating in the vacation property industry.

An attorney had many grievance cases waiting to sue SMT.

Reporters contacted people who had used the firm and they each reported similar experiences. They believed the firm would acquire their investment away from them but when they attended a meeting (for which they submitted funds initially) they were informed there was no re-sale value.

Rather, they were encouraged - indeed coerced - to spend more money acquiring "the company's points system", associated with the business's umbrella group, Monster Travel.

The precise definition was somewhat vague. They sounded like a type of exchange medium, providing reduced-price holidays and benefits and retail offers.

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

Paying cash immediately would produce an long-term benefit that would cover the company's charges and leave the investor in profit, liberated eventually from their burdensome deal.

Too good to be true? Certainly, that proved correct.

A 'Misleading Scam'

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

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

A business - specifically the company - "lures the customer by advertising a particular product only to then state it cannot be provided, steering the individual towards an alternative, lesser option.

Such practices are unlawful. Equipped with all the evidence we had gathered, we presented the rationale to discreetly video one of the company's meetings.

Such an operation demands dedication, work, and compelling reasons for why this is the only way to gather the evidence needed to prove wrongdoing.

With approval secured, our limited crew arranged a consultation with one of the firm's agents in the location.

Posing as a member of the public aiming to help his mother out of her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement