Police have arrested three men in Lower Hutt over alleged fraud offences carried out over the last 14 months.
The arrests follow a six month Wellington based investigation in which a total of 33 individual offenders across the country have been charged with fraud offences.
Police believe the three men arrested today in Lower Hutt are the leaders of this organised criminal operation.
As part of this investigation Police have looked at a large number of similar fraud offences which occurred across the North Island in 2015, all of which appeared to be committed by an organised group of offenders.
The offenders allegedly forged identity documents including firearms licenses, driver's licenses, passports and 18+ cards.
The false documents were then accepted by banks as genuine and as a result sums of money were withdrawn and cheques cashed.
It is alleged that during 2015 approximately $428,000 was illegally obtained by this organised crime group with approximately $225,000 of potential fraud being prevented by quick-thinking bank staff.
Those arrested today will be appearing in Wellington District Court tomorrow morning facing a raft of fraud and forgery charges.
Detective Inspector Grant Wormald says this has been a lengthy and complex investigation because the offending has been occurring across the North Island.
"It has taken a lot of coordinated teamwork with the bank fraud investigation teams and Police Document Examiners Office in particular, to bring all the pieces of the puzzle together and to link the hundreds of offences back to those Police allege are responsible for making the false identity documents."
"People need to be aware if they lose any form of identity document, or have one stolen, that they need to report the loss or theft to Police, their bank and the issuing authority right away, especially if it has a photograph on it," says Det Insp Wormald.
Police are also advising people to be careful of how they dispose of documents such as bank statements, bills and other documents with private information on them.
"If your mail goes missing, especially if it is from your bank, contact them immediately so they can consider putting an alert on your account," says Det Insp Wormald.
"If you work in the banking sector or anywhere else where you have to check someone's identity using an identity document, take your time. False identity documents can and do look very real. It is good practice to ask for more than one piece of proof of identity."
If people receive any unsolicited telephone calls from people purporting to be from banks, the IRD, or even courier delivery companies, they should be very careful before disclosing any personal information, including where they bank, their home addresses and identity document details.
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