How Undercover Filming Exposed a £28m Holiday Ownership Scheme

Authorities have called it as one of the largest frauds of its type in the Britain.

In all 14 people have been sentenced for their part in a £28m conspiracy to swindle over 3,500 timeshare holders.

The victims were desperate to terminate age-old holiday ownership agreements and tried to find assistance.

Most were in the age range of 60 and 80. In excess of 500 of them lost in excess of £10,000, and a single victim paid more than £80,000.

Those affected were exposed to aggressive sales meetings extending for six hours. They were financially worse off, owning valueless fake "points" and continued to be trapped in high-priced holiday ownership agreements they could no longer use.

The Business At the Heart of the Fraud

The firm at the centre of the scam was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They accepted customers' funds to finance the proprietors' luxurious standard of living of private schools, millionaire mansions and personal aircraft.

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

On Friday, his wife Nicola was part of the concluding cases to hear their sentences.

She was handed a 24-month deferred imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court after admitting illegal fund handling.

It has been a lengthy process and represents a major victory for the victims who came forward, the police and prosecutors.

How the Inquiry Was Initiated

The initial awareness of the firm was in the that particular year. The position was in the research department of a news organization, creating current affairs programmes.

A friend noted that his mother had taken over the use of a holiday property in Spain and, after decades of vacations, had begun looking to exit the contract.

It is important to recall how common timeshares had grown with British holidaymakers in the 1980s and 1990s.

Timeshares permitted families to occupy the same accommodation annually, or trade their time slots with additional holders who had units in different locations. Approximately 600,000 sun-lovers accepted that option.

The initial boom was accompanied by a lot of reports about unscrupulous sellers deceptively promoting properties. They appeared frequently on public interest shows.

The typical timeshare contract locked buyers for long periods.

In that period, those investors who had experienced their regular accommodation in the sun for decades were ageing, and many were hoping to wave goodbye to their vacation investments.

A number had declining mobility and couldn't get to their apartments. Some just believed they'd got all they wanted from them. And others had passed away, in frequent situations bequeathing their heirs to inherit the deals - including their regular contributions and maintenance fees.

The Undercover Operation Progresses

This was the situation the relative had been placed. She browsed the internet for options and came across SMT, a firm whose online presence claimed to get her out of her agreement.

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

Further research revealed numerous individuals reporting they had paid money and received no benefit in return. Indeed, they had suffered financially. A lot of it.

The reporting group started looking into what was going on. It soon emerged that there were dubious individuals operating in the timeshare resale sector.

An attorney had many grievance cases preparing to take action against the organization.

Reporters contacted clients who had dealt with the organization and they all told the same story. They thought the business would purchase their timeshare off them but when they participated in a session (for which they made an advance payment) they were advised there was no market for their property.

Rather, they were persuaded - actually compelled - to spend more money acquiring "Monster Rewards", linked to the organization's holding firm, Monster Travel.

What exactly these were was not exactly clear. They appeared to be a type of exchange medium, offering reduced-price holidays and amenities and consumer discounts.

And they were reportedly "exchangeable with additional holders, eventually.

Committing funds at the time would lead to an long-term benefit that would pay for the firm's costs and allow the timeshare holder with a gain, freed at last from their pesky deal.

Too good to be true? Indeed, it was.

A 'Deceptive Scheme'

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

The technique is termed a "bait-and-switch."

An operator - specifically the organization - "lures the client by promoting a defined offering but then to state it cannot be provided, steering the customer in the direction of an alternative, lesser offering.

Such practices are unlawful. Possessing all the evidence we had collected, we made the case to discreetly video one of the firm's consultations.

Such an operation demands commitment, energy, and strong justifications for why this is the exclusive approach to collect the evidence needed to demonstrate illegal activity.

With approval secured, our small team organized a meeting with one of the organization's staff in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Pretending to be a member of the public hoping to assist his parent released from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement