🔗 Share this article

It has been described as one of the largest frauds of its kind in the UK.

In all 14 people have been sentenced for their involvement in a £28 million scheme to swindle more than 3,500 vacation property holders.

The victims were keen to terminate age-old timeshare contracts and went looking for support.

A large number were from 60 and 80. More than 500 of them lost in excess of £10,000, and one transferred over £80,000.

Those targeted were subjected to intense consultations continuing for six hours. They were left out of pocket, owning valueless fake "rewards" and continued to be bound by expensive vacation property deals they frequently were unable to use.

The Business Central to the Fraud

The firm at the core of the fraud was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They collected customers' funds to finance the owners' luxurious standard of living of private schools, millionaire mansions and private jets.

The individual at the helm of the company, the main defendant, was handed a seven and a half year prison term in January for conspiracy to defraud.

In the latest development, his partner another individual was part of the concluding cases to receive sentencing.

She was handed a 24-month suspended jail sentence at the London court after confessing to financial crime.

It has been a extended wait and represents a major victory for the victims who came forward, the authorities and the Crown.

The Way the Inquiry Was Initiated

The initial awareness of SMT emerged during the mid-2016. I was working in the reporting team of a news organization, producing current affairs shows.

A friend noted that his mum had assumed the rights of a vacation unit in the Spanish coast and, after decades of vacations, had started seeking to terminate the deal.

It's worth mentioning how popular timeshares had evolved with British holidaymakers in the last decades of the 20th century.

Vacation properties enabled individuals to occupy the identical property every year, or swap their time slots with additional holders who had properties in alternative destinations. Roughly 600,000 sun-lovers seized that chance.

The early surge was linked to a numerous stories about rip-off merchants mis-selling properties. They appeared frequently on consumer shows.

The standard timeshare contract tied investors in for decades.

At that time, those holders who had experienced their guaranteed place in the sunshine for decades were advancing in years, and a large proportion were looking to wave goodbye to their vacation investments.

A number had reduced ability to travel and were unable to visit their properties. Others just believed they'd enjoyed sufficient use from them. And some had deceased, in numerous instances passing on their heirs to inherit the deals - including their yearly fees and service charges.

The Investigation Unfolds

It was at this point the family member had found herself. She browsed the internet for solutions and came across SMT, a firm whose website claimed to release her from her agreement.

Yet, having made a payment and arranged an appointment with them, her family smelled a rat.

Further research revealed numerous individuals claiming they had handed over cash and received no benefit from the service. In fact, they had suffered financially. Substantial amounts.

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

A legal professional had hundreds of individual complaints aiming to litigate against SMT.

We spoke to clients who had engaged the company and they all told the same story. They assumed the company would buy their property from them but when they went to a consultation (for which they paid up front) they were advised there was no re-sale value.

Rather, they were encouraged - indeed pressured - to commit further cash acquiring "the company's points system", linked to the business's umbrella group, Monster Travel.

What exactly these were was somewhat vague. They appeared to be a type of exchange medium, giving access to discount travel and benefits and shopping deals.

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

Committing funds up front now would produce an eventual payoff that would pay for SMT's fees and leave the property owner with a gain, freed at last from their pesky agreement.

Too good to be true? Well, yes.

A 'Deceptive Scam'

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

This is known as a "bait-and-switch."

Someone - specifically the company - "baits" the customer by promoting a defined offering only to then state it cannot be provided, directing the client towards a different, lower-quality offering.

Such practices are unlawful. Equipped with all the testimony we had collected, we made the case to discreetly video one of the organization's sessions.

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

Once authorized, our limited crew set up a consultation with one of the company's representatives in the English town.

Posing as a ordinary individual wanting to get his mum free from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement