How Covert Recording Uncovered a £28 Million Timeshare Fraud

It has been described as a major scams of its kind in the United Kingdom.

Altogether 14 defendants have been convicted for their involvement in a £28 million plot to swindle more than 3,500 vacation property owners.

The affected individuals were keen to get out of age-old holiday ownership agreements and tried to find assistance.

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

Those targeted were subjected to high-pressure presentations lasting up to six hours. They were left out of pocket, possessing valueless fake "points" and still bound by costly timeshare contracts they frequently were unable to use.

The Company At the Heart of the Deception

The company at the core of the scheme was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They collected clients' cash to support the directors' opulent standard of living of prestigious schooling, luxury homes and exclusive air travel.

The individual at the helm of the firm, Mark Rowe, was handed a seven-and-half year prison term in January for conspiracy to defraud.

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

She received a 24-month deferred imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to financial crime.

It has been a extended wait and represents a huge win for the people who spoke out, the law enforcement and the Crown.

How the Inquiry Started

I first heard about the company emerged during the summer of 2016. I was working in the investigations unit of a broadcasting service, creating documentary features.

A friend pointed out that his mum had assumed the rights of a holiday property in the Spanish coast and, after years of holidays, had started seeking to get out of the agreement.

It is important to recall how widespread vacation properties had evolved with English tourists in the eighties and nineties.

Vacation properties allowed people to access the equivalent unit every year, or trade their weeks with fellow investors who had units in alternative destinations. Roughly 600,000 holiday enthusiasts accepted that option.

The first timeshare rush was accompanied by a numerous accounts about dishonest operators mis-selling units. They were regularly featured on investigative shows.

The common holiday ownership agreement bound owners for many years.

In that period, those investors who had enjoyed their regular accommodation in the resort for decades were advancing in years, and a large proportion were looking to end their association to their vacation investments.

A number had declining mobility and were unable to visit their units. A few just thought they'd enjoyed sufficient use from them. And others had died, in frequent situations bequeathing their family members to take over the agreements - including their yearly fees and service charges.

The Undercover Operation Unfolds

It was at this point the family member had been placed. She searched the web for answers and discovered the company, a business whose digital platform assured to release her from her agreement.

However, having submitted funds and arranged an appointment with them, her loved ones became suspicious.

Further research revealed hundreds of people saying they had paid money and got nothing from the service. Actually, they had been left out of pocket. Significant sums.

Our team started looking into what was going on. It quickly became clear that there were dubious individuals active in the vacation property industry.

An attorney had numerous client reports waiting to sue SMT.

The team interviewed clients who had used the firm and they each reported similar experiences. They believed the firm would buy their property away from them but when they attended a meeting (for which they paid up front) they were advised there was no potential buyers.

Instead, they were persuaded - actually coerced - to commit further cash acquiring "Monster Rewards", linked to the outfit's parent company, the overarching entity.

What exactly these were was rather ambiguous. They sounded like a type of exchange medium, offering reduced-price holidays and services and consumer discounts.

And they were apparently "exchangeable with other owners, at a future date.

Paying cash at the time would result in an future return that would offset SMT's fees and allow the investor in profit, released finally from their burdensome deal.

An unrealistic promise? Certainly, that proved correct.

A 'Misleading Scheme'

Based on these descriptions were true, this was a major deception.

The technique is termed a "deceptive marketing."

A business - specifically SMT - "lures the client by marketing a defined offering and then say that's not available, directing the customer to another, inferior offering.

That's illegal. Possessing all the testimony we had assembled, we argued to secretly film one of the company's meetings.

This takes dedication, work, and compelling reasons for why this is the sole method to gather the data required to prove wrongdoing.

With approval secured, our limited crew set up a meeting with one of the company's representatives in the English town.

Posing as a potential client wanting to get his mum released from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement