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

In all 14 individuals have been found guilty for their part in a multi-million pound plot to swindle in excess of 3,500 vacation property holders.

The targets were desperate to get out of age-old holiday ownership agreements and sought out help.

The majority were aged between 60 and 80. Over 500 of them lost more than £10,000, and one paid over £80,000.

Those victimized were faced intense presentations lasting up to six hours. They were left out of pocket, owning worthless fake "credits" and continued to be locked into high-priced vacation property deals they often use.

The Firm Behind the Scam

The firm at the heart of the scam was the timeshare resale company. They collected people's money to finance the directors' opulent way of life of prestigious schooling, high-end properties and private jets.

The individual at the helm of the firm, the company director, was handed a seven and a half year sentence in January for deceptive scheme.

On Friday, his wife Nicola was one of the final three to receive sentencing.

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

This has been a lengthy process and signifies a major victory for the people who spoke out, the authorities and the Crown.

How the Probe Started

I first heard about SMT emerged during the that particular year. The position was in the reporting team of a news organization, producing current affairs shows.

A friend noted that his mother had taken over the rights of a timeshare apartment in Spain and, after decades of vacations, had commenced searching to exit the contract.

It's worth mentioning how common vacation properties had become with UK travelers in the last decades of the 20th century.

Holiday ownership permitted people to use the same accommodation each season, or swap their vacation periods with additional holders who had units in different locations. Roughly 600,000 holiday enthusiasts took up that opportunity.

The initial boom was accompanied by a numerous reports about rip-off merchants fraudulently marketing units. They became a staple on consumer shows.

The standard timeshare contract tied investors in for decades.

At that time, those owners who had experienced their regular accommodation in the resort for a long time were getting older, and a large proportion were looking to wave goodbye to their timeshares.

A number had declining mobility and were unable to visit their apartments. A few just felt they'd achieved their goals from them. And some had died, in numerous instances leaving their family members to assume the contracts - plus their annual payments and upkeep costs.

The Undercover Operation Develops

And that's where the relative had been placed. She browsed the internet for answers and found SMT, a business whose digital platform promised to release her from her contract.

Yet, having paid a fee and scheduled a consultation with them, her family smelled a rat.

Further research uncovered numerous individuals claiming they had paid money and achieved no result from the service. In fact, they had lost money. A lot of it.

The reporting group commenced probing what was going on. It soon emerged that there were some shady characters working within the timeshare resale sector.

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

Reporters contacted clients who had dealt with the organization and they each reported similar experiences. They assumed the firm would buy their property away from them but when they went to a consultation (for which they paid up front) they were informed there was no potential buyers.

In place of that, they were persuaded - in fact coerced - to invest additional funds acquiring "Monster Rewards", associated with the business's umbrella group, Monster Travel.

The nature of these rewards was somewhat vague. They seemed similar to a kind of currency, providing cheaper vacations and services and consumer discounts.

And they were seemingly "exchangeable with fellow investors, eventually.

Committing funds up front now would produce an future return that would offset SMT's fees and leave the investor with a gain, released finally from their pesky deal.

An unbelievable offer? Well, yes.

A 'Bait-and-Switch Scheme'

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

The technique is termed a "misleading sales."

An operator - specifically SMT - "attracts the customer by promoting a particular product but then to state it cannot be provided, pushing the individual towards another, inferior option.

This is against the law. Equipped with all the accounts we had gathered, we made the case to secretly film one of the firm's consultations.

The process requires time, effort, and strong justifications for why this is the sole method to collect the information necessary to prove wrongdoing.

Once authorized, our limited crew organized a meeting with one of the company's representatives in the location.

Posing as a potential client hoping to get his mum released from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement