The Queensland Police fraud squad says it will be the first police force in the world to go on "wardriving" missions to warn homes and businesses if their wireless networks are not secure.

Detective Superintendent Brian Hay said criminals were piggy-backing on the WiFi connections of ordinary computer users and using them to anonymously commit crimes such as fraud and identity theft.

The process of searching for open wireless networks using a laptop or handheld in a moving vehicle is known in the geek community as "wardriving".

Many home networks can be accessed by anyone within range because strong security settings are often not enabled and passwords are rarely changed from the default setting.

"All unsecured WiFi networks out there are open for exploitation by the crooks and the average mum and dad don't understand the vulnerabilities," Detective Superintendent Hay said in a phone interview.