A top Tory crime commissioner has admitted "little is done" to combat major fraud - with only a fraction of cases properly investigated.
Thames Valley's outgoing Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Anthony Stansfeld, is the Association of PCCs' national lead for fraud and cyber crime.
But in reply to a letter from Labour's Shadow Security Minister Conor McGinn, he accepted there had been a "lack of strategy", and that many fraud cases fall into an "administrative hole, never to be seen again."
Mr McGinn wrote to Mr Stansfield to call for more action on fraud as more people turn to shopping and banking remotely.
In his letter, Mr Mcgann wrote that this week's PCC elections must be a "turning point" and that the “Conservative government must finally wake up to the scale of this crisis, by providing police with the resources and focus necessary to tackle this appalling rise in fraud”.
Mr Stansfeld replied: "As the lead on the APCC Portfolio Group on Fraud and Cyber Crime, I agree with your views. Unfortunately, as I stand down as the PCC for Thames Valley in under a fortnight, my power to address these matters is limited.”
In a briefing document sent alongside his reply, Mr Stansfeld wrote that police forces "have neither the time, capacity, nor capability to take on fraud."
He said cases brought before Action Fraud, the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime "mostly… disappear into an administrative hole never to be heard of again, or are classed as a civil matter”.
Labour analysis of official data found there were 4.4 million victims of fraud in the last year, equivalent to nearly one in 10 adults in England and Wales.
It follows a 61% increase in ‘remote banking’ fraud in the last 12 months and a 27% rise in ‘online shopping and auctions’ fraud.
Mr McGinn told the Mirror: “This bombshell letter shows the Conservatives have essentially given up on tackling fraud, which makes up a third of all crime.
“Their own Commissioner - who was the national lead on fraud - has admitted ‘little is done to combat major fraud’ and the police ‘have neither the time, capacity, nor capability to take on fraud’.
“The cat is out of the bag and the Conservatives utterly shameful record on crime is plain to see. Under the Conservatives, criminals have never had it so good.”
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
