Life of luxury lived by timeshare scammers who stole £28,000,000 from elderly victims

A couple who conned elderly timeshare owners out of $28 million lived a life of luxury, spending money on private jets, a £2.4million home and expensive art works.

They fraudsters even forked out £31,500 for a pencil sketch by English artist LS Lowry.

Mark Rowe, who lead the scam, his wife Nicola and several other fraudsters working with them, scammed 3,583 people into thinking that their timeshare apartments would be sold with major profits.

Most victims were between 60 and 80, with some in their 90s.

The team, who worked under Mark’s ‘Sell My Timeshare’ brand, would lure the victims to ‘high-pressure sales meetings’, which often lasted up to six hours”, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

The meetings, often held at the firm’s Tenerife office, saw victims pushed to sell their timeshares and make an additional payment for the company’s fictional ‘Monster Credits’ scheme, which promised discounts on holidays and shopping, as well as the opportunity to trade them with other customers on a dedicated platform.

Several victims took out loans to buy the credits, typically investing around £8,000, according to the CPS.

Almost 500 victims lost more than £10,000 with the highest individual loss being £80,000.

As well as losing money to the fake credits scheme, many found that their time shares had not been sold and faced massive outstanding maintenance bills.

Senior investigating officer Peter Highway said a ‘lot of the money was spent on luxury’ by the company’s managing director Mark, and Nicola, who acted as the firm’s finance director.

The couple spent more than £110,000 on private school fees for their children, a house in Hampshire with stables valued at £2.4 million, and £26,000 on one private jet trip to Tenerife, according to police.

A total of £8 million from the company went into Mark and Nicola personal account, with £185,000 spent on art, including the LS Lowry sketch, which is titled ‘Street Scene’.

They hired former Hollyoaks actress Julie Peasgood to promote their company in TV adverts, although she was unaware it was scam.

Rowe, of Los Blanquitos in Tenerife, was sentenced in January to seven-and-a-half years’ imprisonment after being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud.

His wife, also of Los Blanquitos in Tenerife, will be sentenced today at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to money laundering.

A total of 14 people were convicted following four trials held over two years at Southwark Crown Court – with reporting restrictions in place until Nicola Rowe’s guilty plea.

One man, who had fallen victim to the scam, spoke of the impact it had had on him in a victim statement that was read in court.

He said: ‘I’m now supposed to be retired and enjoying life, but as a result of being a victim of Mark Rowe’s fraud my quality of life has been reduced to a struggle – I’m unable to afford to even pay my own rent.

‘I’ve been a successful businessman all of my life, but feel that I’ve let my wife down, and I cannot see how I can put this right in the time that we have left.’

Mr Highway, from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit which ran the six-year investigation, said: ‘The fact so many people were defrauded in this case reflects the lengths Mark Rowe went to both to lure victims to meetings with his criminal sales team and continually invent new methods to deceive them.

‘He paid for TV and magazine ads, put victims up in hotels, and even created fake virtual offices and fake personas.’

CPS specialist prosecutor Gayle Ramsey said it had been ‘a living nightmare’ for the victims.

‘These defendants acted in a completely selfish and manipulative manner to make huge sums for themselves and exploited timeshare owners, many of whom were elderly,’ she added.

‘They provided victims with the false hope of disposing of timeshares in exchange for a valuable investment when in reality they were each left tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket after purchasing something which was worthless.’

Twelve other people working with the couple have already been convicted of fraud charges in relation to the scam, with ten receiving either prison sentences of up to four and a half years or suspended jail sentences. Two are being sentenced today.

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