Fraud Squad - ITV 1 Documentary

The City of London Police’s excellence in combating fraud will be showcased this Friday on primetime television.

Viewers follow detectives tracking an organised crime gang from the North East of England into Spain and Sweden. The investigation culminates in the dismantling of one of the UK’s biggest boiler room frauds.

The two-part documentary – Fraud Squad – gives an insight into the decisions and actions that led to Operation Soundwave being a major international success.

The two-year investigation was one of the largest undertaken by the National Lead Force at that time and was a landmark moment for the force, being the first time detectives were able to utilise the full resources of the newly formed NFIB.

Its intelligence was the catalyst for a major operation at Christmas 2009, which led to a multitude of arrests in the north of England and the main suspect pursued across Europe and ultimately extradited back to the UK.

Viewers will learn about gang leader George Abrue, and hear first-hand accounts of the damage he and his associates inflicted on the lives of his victims.

They will also get to see how crime does not pay, with Abrue and six other members of his gang jailed in the Summer of 2011 after trials in Harrow and Newcastle.

DCS Steve Head, Head of Economic Crime, said:

“This documentary provides a valuable insight into what it takes to bring down organised crime gangs running major boiler room frauds and serves as a important reminder to the viewing public, alerting them to the danger of fraudsters like these and assisting them in keeping themselves and those close to them safe from this type of criminality.

“It’s clear that economic crime is now an organised global enterprise and traditional police boundaries and national borders have become almost meaningless to the criminal gangs who commit these offences. This demands international collaboration between law enforcement and government agencies and this programme gives an insight into the excellent relationships that the CoLP have fostered with law-enforcement agencies right across Europe.

“Viewers of Fraud Squad will see the professionalism of all the officers involved in Operation Soundwave, and should turn-off of the TV with a new appreciation of how the City of London Police is at the forefront of the fight against fraud.” 

Fraud Squad will be on ITV1 at 9pm on Friday August 26 and Friday September 2nd