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It has been described as one of the largest deceptions of its type in the UK.

In all 14 people have been sentenced for their role in a multi-million pound plot to swindle over 3,500 holiday ownership investors.

The targets were keen to exit long-standing vacation property deals and sought out help.

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

Those targeted were faced high-pressure sales meetings extending for six hours. They were financially worse off, holding useless fake "rewards" and remained locked into high-priced vacation property deals they often use.

The Business Central to the Deception

The business at the core of the fraud was the organization in question. They collected people's money to fund the proprietors' luxurious lifestyle of prestigious schooling, luxury homes and personal aircraft.

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

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

She was handed a two-year suspended prison term at the London court after confessing to financial crime.

It has been a long time coming and marks a significant success for the people who spoke out, the authorities and the Crown.

The Way the Investigation Began

The initial awareness of the firm emerged during the mid-2016. I was working in the reporting team of a news organization, creating documentary shows.

A friend mentioned that his mum had inherited the use of a timeshare apartment in the Spanish coast and, after long-term use, had begun looking to get out of the agreement.

It's worth mentioning how common vacation properties had evolved with English tourists in the last decades of the 20th century.

Timeshares allowed families to access the equivalent unit every year, or trade their time slots with fellow investors who had properties in different locations. Roughly 600,000 sun-lovers took up that option.

The first timeshare rush was linked to a numerous stories about unscrupulous sellers mis-selling units. They appeared frequently on consumer shows.

The standard timeshare contract bound owners for decades.

By 2016, those owners who had used their regular accommodation in the sunshine for 20 or 30 years were getting older, and a large proportion were looking to wave goodbye to their timeshares.

A number had health issues and found it difficult to access their apartments. Some just felt they'd got all they wanted from them. And some had passed away, in numerous instances passing on their heirs to inherit the deals - plus their yearly fees and service charges.

The Covert Probe Progresses

This was the situation the friend's mum had been placed. She browsed the internet for answers and came across SMT, a enterprise whose online presence assured to terminate her deal.

However, having made a payment and booked a meeting with them, her family smelled a rat.

Further research revealed many victims saying they had submitted funds and achieved no result in return. Indeed, they had been left out of pocket. A lot of it.

The investigative unit commenced probing what was going on. It was rapidly apparent that there were questionable operators operating in the holiday ownership market.

An attorney had hundreds of individual complaints waiting to sue SMT.

Reporters contacted individuals who had engaged the company and they all told the same story. They assumed the firm would purchase their timeshare off them but when they went to a consultation (for which they paid up front) they were told there was no market for their property.

Rather, they were persuaded - indeed coerced - to spend more money investing in "the company's points system", linked to the organization's holding firm, the parent organization.

What exactly these were was somewhat vague. They appeared to be a form of credit, giving access to cheaper vacations and amenities and retail offers.

And they were seemingly "tradable" with other owners, some time down the line.

Committing funds at the time would produce an eventual payoff that would offset the firm's costs and allow the property owner with a gain, liberated eventually from their troublesome agreement.

An unrealistic promise? Well, yes.

A 'Bait-and-Switch Scam'

Assuming these reports were accurate, this was a massive scam.

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

An operator - here the organization - "lures the consumer by marketing a specific service only to then say that's not available, directing the customer towards an alternative, lesser offering.

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

The process requires time, effort, and clear arguments for why this is the exclusive approach to collect the evidence required to prove wrongdoing.

Armed with that permission, our limited crew arranged a consultation with one of the organization's staff in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Pretending to be a member of the public wanting to help his mother out of her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement