Detectives have visited hundreds of convicted fraudsters in prison to find out how they carried out their crimes, City of London Police has said.
Commissioner Adrian Leppard said the information helped disrupt cybercrime and reduce the number of victims.
The prisoners were not rewarded with reduced sentences, he told the BBC.
Police have always spoken to convicted criminals, but the force’s widespread use of the practice since 2012 is thought to be unprecedented.
City of London Police, which leads on economic crime, said most of the convicts their officers had visited were imprisoned in the UK, but detectives had also travelled overseas to conduct interviews.
Mr Leppard said: “We’re grappling with this type of crime and we’ve got to find out how to protect people.
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