Fraud Squad

Hopefully the success of this occasional documentary series won’t encourage ITV to make a fictional spin-off (probable cast: Bradley Walsh and Indira Varma) – these real life stories offer drama enough. Tonight, the targets for the City of London police are international money launderers, in the shape of two boiler-room scammers and a mortgage fraudster.

Their contrasting reactions to getting nicked are telling but ultimately fruitless: two of them radiate unflustered arrogance, the third faints (‘a Gillian McKeith moment’, reckons one rozzer) then feigns ignorance. But a combination of carelessness and hubris causes their downfall – as well as the perseverance of the titular coppers. And, importantly the impact of their crimes is not glossed over, with victims explaining the crippling effect of these complex, audacious cons on their own lives.