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Authorities have called it as one of the largest scams of its type in the UK.

In all 14 individuals have been found guilty for their role in a £28m conspiracy to swindle over 3,500 holiday ownership holders.

The targets were keen to get out of age-old holiday ownership agreements and tried to find support.

A large number were in the age range of 60 and 80. More than 500 of them surrendered in excess of £10,000, and a single victim handed over in excess of £80,000.

Those targeted were exposed to high-pressure presentations lasting up to six hours. They were financially worse off, owning useless fake "points" and continued to be trapped in high-priced holiday ownership agreements they could no longer use.

The Firm Central to the Fraud

The company at the core of the scam was the organization in question. They took customers' funds to support the proprietors' luxurious lifestyle of private schools, high-end properties and personal aircraft.

The leader at the top of the organization, the main defendant, was sentenced to a seven-and-half year prison term in January for conspiracy to defraud.

On Friday, his partner Nicola was one of the final three to learn their fate.

She received a two-year long suspended jail sentence at Southwark Crown Court after confessing to financial crime.

It has been a long time coming and signifies a huge win for the people who spoke out, the authorities and the Crown.

How the Investigation Started

The initial awareness of the firm came in the summer of 2016. I was working in the research department of a broadcasting service, making documentary shows.

A friend mentioned that his mother had assumed the rights of a timeshare apartment in a European resort and, after long-term use, had begun looking to terminate the contract.

It's worth mentioning how common timeshares had grown with UK travelers in the eighties and nineties.

Vacation properties permitted people to access the same accommodation every year, or trade their vacation periods with other owners who had properties in alternative destinations. About 600,000 vacation seekers took up that chance.

The early surge was accompanied by a many stories about unscrupulous sellers fraudulently marketing investments. They were regularly featured on investigative TV programmes.

The common holiday ownership agreement tied investors in for long periods.

In that period, those holders who had enjoyed their regular accommodation in the sun for a long time were ageing, and a significant number were looking to wave goodbye to their holiday properties.

Several had health issues and were unable to visit their units. Some just felt they'd achieved their goals from them. And a portion had passed away, in many cases bequeathing their heirs to inherit the contracts - plus their annual payments and maintenance fees.

The Undercover Operation Unfolds

And that's where the friend's mum had ended up. She browsed the internet for options and discovered the company, a firm whose digital platform assured to release her from her contract.

Yet, having paid a fee and booked a meeting with them, her loved ones smelled a rat.

Further research showed many victims claiming they had handed over cash and received no benefit out of it. Indeed, they had lost money. Significant sums.

Our team started looking into what was happening. It was rapidly apparent that there were some shady characters operating in the timeshare resale sector.

One lawyer had many grievance cases waiting to sue SMT.

Reporters contacted individuals who had used the firm and they each reported similar experiences. They assumed the firm would acquire their investment off them but when they participated in a session (for which they made an advance payment) they were told there was no market for their property.

Instead, they were encouraged - actually coerced - to commit further cash investing in "Monster Rewards", linked to the business's umbrella group, Monster Travel.

The precise definition was rather ambiguous. They seemed similar to a form of credit, providing cheaper vacations and amenities and shopping deals.

And they were reportedly "transferable with fellow investors, at a future date.

Investing money immediately would result in an future return that would cover SMT's fees and result in the timeshare holder in profit, freed at last from their burdensome agreement.

Too good to be true? Well, yes.

A 'Bait-and-Switch Scam'

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

It's what is called a "misleading sales."

A business - in this case the company - "attracts the client by advertising a defined offering but then to say that's not available, directing the client in the direction of another, inferior option.

Such practices are unlawful. Equipped with all the testimony we had gathered, we made the case to secretly film one of the firm's consultations.

The process requires commitment, energy, and compelling reasons for why this is the only way to collect the evidence necessary to demonstrate illegal activity.

Armed with that permission, our small team arranged a consultation with one of the firm's agents in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Acting as a member of the public wanting to get his mum released from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement