Last year, the DTI shut down an operation based in Hever in Kent, while a major Manchester-based scandal still has not been cleared up after 10 years. As any visitor to popular resorts such as Playa de las Americas in Tenerife knows only too well, it is impossible to move along some streets without being accosted by timeshare personnel. They offer inducements such as cash, free meals, bottles of whisky and watches to entrap holidaymakers into a timeshare sales presentation. Once there, the sales staff batter down resistance by plying punters with drink and telling them how a timeshare purchase will beat other investments. But the most powerful line is to sell to those who already have a time share, offering to take the old property off their hands at a huge profit providing they buy another holiday unit.
Sellers rely on the fact that many holidaymakers sign forms just to escape back into the sunshine.
Once they return, they have to finance two time shares - the old and the new, sometimes both run secretly by the same company. His staff often added physical threats. There are no properties. But the small print, which victims obviously never read, says there is no promise to repay the full amount or any other sum. Even videos of property are shot from flattering angles.