🔗 Share this article

It has been described as among the biggest deceptions of its nature in the UK.

A total of 14 people have been sentenced for their part in a multi-million pound scheme to defraud over 3,500 timeshare investors.

The targets were eager to exit long-standing vacation property deals and tried to find help.

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 more than £80,000.

Those victimized were exposed to high-pressure consultations continuing for six hours. They were financially worse off, holding useless fake "points" and continued to be locked into high-priced holiday ownership agreements they frequently were unable to use.

The Company Behind the Fraud

The company at the heart of the scam was the timeshare resale company. They accepted clients' cash to support the directors' opulent standard of living of private schools, luxury homes and private jets.

The individual at the head of the organization, the main defendant, was handed a seven and a half year prison term in January for deceptive scheme.

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

She was handed a 24-month suspended prison term at Southwark Crown Court after admitting illegal fund handling.

The outcome represents a long time coming and represents a significant success for the victims who came forward, the police and the Crown.

The Way the Investigation Was Initiated

I first heard about SMT emerged during the mid-2016. I was working in the reporting team of a news organization, making documentary shows.

A friend noted that his mum had assumed the rights of a vacation unit in the Spanish coast and, after years of holidays, had commenced searching to get out of the contract.

It is important to recall how popular holiday ownership had become with UK travelers in the last decades of the 20th century.

Holiday ownership allowed families to occupy the equivalent unit each season, or swap their weeks with fellow investors who had properties in alternative destinations. Approximately 600,000 vacation seekers took up that opportunity.

The early surge was paired with a lot of accounts about rip-off merchants mis-selling investments. They were regularly featured on consumer broadcasts.

The standard holiday ownership agreement bound owners for long periods.

At that time, those owners who had experienced their regular accommodation in the sunshine for 20 or 30 years were getting older, and a large proportion were looking to say farewell to their timeshares.

A number had health issues and found it difficult to access their properties. Some just thought they'd achieved their goals from them. And a portion had passed away, in many cases bequeathing their heirs to take over the agreements - along with their yearly fees and maintenance fees.

The Investigation Develops

It was at this point the friend's mum had ended up. She looked online for options and discovered the company, a firm whose online presence assured to release her from her contract.

Yet, having made a payment and scheduled a consultation with them, her family smelled a rat.

Subsequent checking revealed hundreds of people reporting they had submitted funds and received no benefit in return. Indeed, they had lost money. Substantial amounts.

The investigative unit started looking into what was happening. It was rapidly apparent that there were questionable operators working within the holiday ownership market.

One lawyer had many grievance cases aiming to litigate against the company.

Reporters contacted clients who had engaged the company and they all told the same story. They assumed the business would acquire their investment off them but when they attended a meeting (for which they paid up front) they were informed there was no potential buyers.

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

The precise definition was somewhat vague. They seemed similar to a type of exchange medium, giving access to cheaper vacations and amenities and shopping deals.

And they were reportedly "tradable" with other owners, eventually.

Paying cash at the time would produce an eventual payoff that would pay for the firm's costs and result in the timeshare holder in profit, released finally from their troublesome contract.

An unbelievable offer? Indeed, it was.

A 'Deceptive Scam'

Assuming these reports were true, this was a major deception.

This is known as a "misleading sales."

An operator - here SMT - "baits" the customer by promoting a defined offering only to then say that's not available, directing the client in the direction of an alternative, lesser offering.

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

The process requires dedication, work, and clear arguments for why this is the exclusive approach to collect the data necessary to prove wrongdoing.

Armed with that permission, our compact group set up a consultation with one of the organization's staff in the location.

Acting as a ordinary individual wanting to assist his parent released from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement