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A trusted member of the finance team in a local authority dupes his colleagues into signing off fake paperwork so that he can transfer hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money into his own bank account. The fraudster worked in the highways department of a local council and was responsible for overseeing the financial side of roadworks. He spotted a loophole in the system and set up an elaborate fraud to siphon money meant for crucial road repairs into his own pocket. Over a period of three years, he managed to make 35 payments into ten bank accounts he had set up to try to cover his tracks. In total, he stole a staggering £900,000 from the council.

In another case, police uncover an Aladdin’s cave of counterfeit goods at an unassuming homewares shop in Manchester. Each year, around £4 billion is lost to the UK economy due to the sale of fake products. It’s money which could be used to fund vital public services. The case starts with a designer brand contacting the specialist counterfeit investigators about a shop selling fake goods pretending to be the real thing. Investigators raid the shop, but even with their experience, they can’t believe the scale of the operation. They seize over 4,000 items in the raid – all fake designer goods. The fraudsters have been buying in counterfeit branded items from overseas and selling them on as the real thing. They’ve also been buying unbranded goods – then sticking forged designer labels on themselves.