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Prosecutors have labeled it as among the biggest frauds of its nature in the UK.

In all 14 individuals have been sentenced for their part in a £28m conspiracy to cheat more than 3,500 vacation property investors.

The victims were desperate to exit age-old vacation property deals and went looking for support.

A large number were in the age range of 60 and 80. Over 500 of them surrendered more than £10,000, and one individual handed over over £80,000.

Those victimized were subjected to intense sales meetings extending for six hours. They were left out of pocket, possessing useless fake "credits" and continued to be locked into expensive timeshare contracts they often use.

The Business Behind the Deception

The business at the heart of the scam was the timeshare resale company. They collected customers' funds to support the owners' lavish standard of living of exclusive education, millionaire mansions and private jets.

The man at the helm of the company, the company director, was given a seven and a half year sentence in January for conspiracy to defraud.

In the latest development, his partner another individual was one of the final three to receive sentencing.

She received a two-year suspended jail sentence at the judicial venue after pleading guilty to illegal fund handling.

It has been a long time coming and marks a major victory for the individuals who testified, the police and the Crown.

How the Inquiry Started

I first heard about the company was in the summer of 2016. The position was in the investigations unit of a media outlet, producing current affairs programmes.

A friend pointed out that his parent had assumed the ownership of a holiday property in a European resort and, after decades of vacations, had started seeking to terminate the deal.

It should be noted how common vacation properties had grown with English tourists in the eighties and nineties.

Timeshares permitted families to occupy the equivalent unit every year, or swap their vacation periods with other owners who had units in alternative destinations. Roughly 600,000 vacation seekers took up that option.

The early surge was accompanied by a lot of accounts about unscrupulous sellers fraudulently marketing investments. They became a staple on investigative shows.

The typical vacation property deal tied investors in for many years.

At that time, those holders who had enjoyed their regular accommodation in the sunshine for decades were advancing in years, and a significant number were attempting to end their association to their vacation investments.

A number had health issues and were unable to visit their apartments. A few just believed they'd got all they wanted from them. And a portion had deceased, in numerous instances leaving their loved ones to take over the deals - plus their yearly fees and upkeep costs.

The Undercover Operation Progresses

This was the situation the friend's mum had ended up. She searched the web for answers and came across SMT, a firm whose digital platform assured to release her from her agreement.

But, having paid a fee and arranged an appointment with them, her family smelled a rat.

Additional investigation revealed many victims claiming they had paid money and got nothing from the service. In fact, they had suffered financially. Substantial amounts.

Our team started looking into what was occurring. It quickly became clear that there were some shady characters operating in the timeshare resale sector.

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

The team interviewed people who had used the firm and they each reported similar experiences. They assumed the business would buy their property away from them but when they attended a meeting (for which they submitted funds initially) they were told there was no re-sale value.

Rather, they were encouraged - in fact coerced - to spend more money acquiring "the firm's incentive scheme", named after the outfit's parent company, Monster Travel.

What exactly these were was somewhat vague. They appeared to be a type of exchange medium, providing reduced-price holidays and services and consumer discounts.

And they were seemingly "tradable" with additional holders, at a future date.

Investing money at the time would lead to an future return that would cover the company's charges and allow the property owner ahead financially, released finally from their pesky contract.

An unrealistic promise? Well, yes.

A 'Deceptive Tactic'

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

It's what is called a "deceptive marketing."

A business - here SMT - "baits" the consumer by promoting a particular product only to then claim it is unavailable, pushing the customer to another, inferior product or service.

That's illegal. Armed with all the evidence we had collected, we presented the rationale to secretly film one of the firm's consultations.

Such an operation demands time, effort, and clear arguments for why this is the only way to obtain the information required to prove wrongdoing.

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

Acting as a member of the public hoping to get his mum out of her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement