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Authorities have called it as among the biggest scams of its type in the Britain.

In all 14 individuals have been convicted for their involvement in a multi-million pound plot to defraud more than 3,500 timeshare investors.

The affected individuals were desperate to get out of decades-old timeshare contracts and tried to find help.

A large number were from 60 and 80. Over 500 of them surrendered in excess of £10,000, and one individual paid over £80,000.

Those affected were subjected to high-pressure sales meetings extending for six hours. They were out of money, holding worthless fake "points" and continued to be trapped in expensive vacation property deals they could no longer use.

The Business At the Heart of the Fraud

The firm at the core of the scam was the timeshare resale company. They took people's money to finance the proprietors' opulent standard of living of exclusive education, luxury homes and private jets.

The leader at the top of the organization, the company director, was given a seven-and-half year prison term in January for deceptive scheme.

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

She received a 24-month suspended prison term at the London court after admitting money laundering.

The outcome represents a lengthy process and signifies a huge win for the victims who came forward, the authorities and legal representatives.

The Way the Probe Began

I first heard about the firm was in the that particular year. I was working in the research department of a media outlet, creating investigative shows.

A friend noted that his parent had assumed the rights of a vacation unit in the Spanish coast and, after years of holidays, had started seeking to terminate the contract.

It is important to recall how common vacation properties had become with British holidaymakers in the eighties and nineties.

Vacation properties allowed people to occupy the identical property each season, or swap their vacation periods with fellow investors who had apartments in different locations. About 600,000 holiday enthusiasts accepted that option.

The early surge was linked to a lot of stories about unscrupulous sellers mis-selling properties. They were regularly featured on public interest TV programmes.

The typical timeshare contract locked buyers for long periods.

In that period, those owners who had used their regular accommodation in the resort for a long time were advancing in years, and a large proportion were looking to end their association to their timeshares.

A number had declining mobility and found it difficult to access their properties. Others just believed they'd achieved their goals from them. And some had deceased, in frequent situations passing on their heirs to assume the deals - plus their regular contributions and service charges.

The Investigation Unfolds

It was at this point the family member had ended up. She searched the web for answers and came across SMT, a firm whose website claimed to terminate her contract.

Yet, having submitted funds and scheduled a consultation with them, her loved ones smelled a rat.

Subsequent checking revealed numerous individuals claiming they had handed over cash and achieved no result from the service. Actually, they had been left out of pocket. A lot of it.

Our team started looking into what was going on. It was rapidly apparent that there were some shady characters operating in the holiday ownership market.

A legal professional had numerous client reports waiting to sue the organization.

Reporters contacted clients who had engaged the company and they collectively described identical situations. They believed the company would acquire their investment from them but when they participated in a session (for which they paid up front) they were told there was no market for their property.

Rather, they were pushed - in fact coerced - to invest additional funds purchasing "the company's points system", linked to the outfit's parent company, Monster Travel.

The precise definition was somewhat vague. They sounded like a type of exchange medium, providing discount travel and benefits and retail offers.

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

Committing funds immediately would result in an long-term benefit that would pay for the firm's costs and leave the investor with a gain, released finally from their burdensome agreement.

An unrealistic promise? Certainly, that proved correct.

A 'Deceptive Scheme'

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

The technique is termed a "misleading sales."

Someone - in this case the organization - "baits" the client by promoting a specific service and then claim it is unavailable, directing the individual towards another, inferior option.

Such practices are unlawful. Armed with all the accounts we had gathered, we presented the rationale to discreetly video one of the organization's sessions.

This takes time, effort, and strong justifications for why this is the exclusive approach to collect the evidence necessary to confirm deceptive practices.

Armed with that permission, our limited crew organized a meeting with one of the company's representatives in the location.

Acting as a member of the public hoping to assist his parent free from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement