On June 6-7, the first two episodes of the documentary series VTV Special: Trap 2 – The Trap of Timeshare Contracts, titled A Vacation Swapped and No Way Out, aired on national television VTV. The documentary examined the timeshare model, in which many elderly people became victims of promises of luxury vacations and lucrative investment returns.

In recent days, allegations involving the sale of timeshare contracts featured on VTV have attracted widespread public attention. Behind the reported financial losses are numerous heartbreaking stories of families whose loved ones became victims. The story of the mother-in-law of T.K., 47, residing in Dai Mo Ward, Hanoi, is one such case.

Believing promises of dream vacations, the 70-year-old woman spent all her savings, borrowed money from banks, turned to informal lenders and eventually suffered serious health problems. Only after she ran out of money was her family able to pull her out of the spiral of timeshare purchases.

According to T.K., her mother-in-law once had several billion dong in savings and gradually became almost penniless after repeatedly spending money on timeshare packages.

"She not only used up all of her savings, but was also taken by sales representatives to banks to obtain unsecured loans. She even borrowed from informal lenders to continue buying timeshare packages," she said.

What left the family feeling most helpless was that every attempt to persuade her proved futile. According to T.K., despite repeated explanations, warnings and even harsh words from family members, she refused to listen. Instead, she placed complete trust in the timeshare sales representatives.

"My husband tried countless times to convince her. In the end, he said something that sounded absurd but turned out to be true in her case: only when she ran out of money would life become peaceful again," she said.

That prediction ultimately proved correct. Only after she no longer had the ability to make payments did the situation begin to change. By then, her health had deteriorated after enduring daily calls from sales representatives urging her to pay more money. The prolonged pressure eventually led her to hospitalization.

The family members even had to temporarily take away her phone to cut off contact with the timeshare sales team before she could break free from the cycle.

Unwilling to accept the loss of the family's hard-earned savings, relatives repeatedly approached the company selling the timeshare packages to seek answers.

However, according to T.K., they were met only with evasive responses, shifting of responsibility and repeated promises.

"We felt that continuing to follow those promises would only waste more time. In the end, we had no choice but to treat it as an expensive lesson," she said.

What troubles her most is not understanding how this business model could operate for so long and cause hundreds of elderly people to lose money without being dealt with more decisively.

"I still believe that with the public attention this issue is receiving nationwide, justice will eventually be served and those responsible for the damage will be held accountable," she said.

She said that her mother-in-law trusted the salespeople so completely that she repeatedly lied to family members to obtain money.

She claimed she needed funds to purchase healthcare equipment or cover personal expenses, prompting her children to transfer tens of millions of dong to her. In reality, the money was ultimately paid to the timeshare sellers.

"My husband loves his mother very much, so whenever she asked, he sent the money. But in fact, all of it went toward those timeshare packages," she said.

Ironically, while the woman often expressed sympathy for other victims who had lost hundreds of millions of dong, she seemed unable to fully comprehend the billions of dong she herself had lost.

"She would say she felt sorry for another elderly woman who lost a few hundred million dong. I asked her, 'Then why don't you feel the same way about losing billions of dong yourself?'" T.K. recalled.

The family's greatest sorrow extends beyond the financial losses. According to T.K., much of the money came from the hard work and savings of her children, who entrusted their mother to manage it.

While many people struggle to earn every dong, she easily transferred sums of VND50 million, VND100 million and even VND300 million to the sales representatives.

"Sometimes she couldn't even remember the names of her grandchildren, but she remembered every single salesperson's name," T.K. said.

T. Nhung