(File photo)More than 200 fraud files are waiting to be investigated in Canterbury, nearly six years after local police scrapped the specialist squad responsible for investigating white-collar crime. The backlog comes as police have increased their one-person fraud squad to six, including a supervisor. In 2015, Canterbury police merged the fraud squad – a detective sergeant and five staff – with the metro crime squad, which had 50 investigators. So these can be pretty serious investigations.”In most fraud cases the offender was identifiable, leaving police to unravel the fraud and identify the evidence, Cahill said. “Fraud victims have been frustrated with police for a long time and this doesn’t say that it’s getting any better,” Cahill said.

Source: Stuff April 05, 2021 16:52 UTC