Only about 40 per cent of crime reports last year were looked at by human “crime reviewers”

Tens of thousands of victims of online fraud are having their cases dismissed by a computer algorithm, as police officers refuse to guarantee that a human being will investigate thefts of less than £100,000.

Figures obtained by The Times suggest that more than half of cases reported to the UK’s national reporting centre for online crime are deemed not worthy of further investigation by an “automated scoring matrix”.

The algorithm assesses factors such as whether bank details of scammers have been provided. Only crimes with a value of £100,000 are automatically passed to human investigators, who then decide whether the case should go to the local police.

Unlike physical thefts, which are reported to local police stations, online fraud and cybercrime have to be reported