Scotland Yard fraud unit 'using rookie PCs' due to staff shortage, claim former officers

Major fraudsters are escaping justice because of a shortage of detectives in Scotland Yard’s specialist unit, it was claimed today.

Two former officers said the cyber and fraud investigation unit was so short of trained investigators they are recruiting constables straight from basic training to help in complex cases.

They claim that many detectives had either been transferred into counter-terrorism after the recent attacks in London or diverted to help the Grenfell Tower investigation, and others were being lost to the private sector.

One of the two former officers, Suzanne Raftery, described her role in the elite Falcon cyber crime and fraud unit as analysing crime reports to see which were suitable to close before they were even investigated.

Ms Raftery said: “Our primary goal was to try to reduce the amount of crime that was getting passed to the Met from Action Fraud (the national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre).

“We would speak to victims and say ‘I am sorry, we do not have the resources’ because a lot of our staff have been seconded to Grenfell Tower or terrorist investigations.”

She added: “You have people investigating fraud without fraud training. It’s like saying to someone walking down the street, ‘Hey, do you want to come and investigate a million-pound fraud’.”

Her fellow former fraud squad officer James Mills said: “Detectives are being held on boroughs such as Camden and Hackney and not being released to go to specialist units.

"So the specialist units, such as Falcon, are having to recruit from the larger pool, the majority of whom are police constables. There are constables just out of basic training.”

Ms Raftery, 38, and Mr Mills, 47, have set up a business called Requite Solutions to help companies or individuals investigate frauds and recover funds.

"They also criticised banks for failing to properly monitor suspicious activity on accounts and transactions.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Gallagher, who oversees the Falcon unit, said: “We have got some incredibly experienced officers in our cyber command and their results have been excellent with a 20 per cent detection rate.

"They also provide expert guidance to the public and private sector. We have lost staff but we have enough officers in cyber to make sure that we are functioning better than we ever have done.”

Police say there are now 250 investigators in the unit compared with 100 when it was launched in 2014.