The use of technology in Civil Fraud – or how I learned
to stop worrying and love technology
Civil fraud cases traditionally require the sifting through of
thousands of documents to get to a result. Applications for
freezing orders are supported by investigations that, sometimes,
have gone on for months before they are launched and require
reviews that are more akin to entire disclosure exercises in
conventional disputes.
This review only gets you to the point of understanding what has
gone on. A case then needs to be formulated by analysing facts
and events. Emails are not the preserve of those that are
hiding things (its more formal nature now taking the place of
letters a few years ago). Instead, whatsapp, Bloomberg and a
whole host of social media accounts contain more casual
communication and are often the source of the gold dust where
individuals have dropped their guard. Even in these formats,
fraudsters seek to cover their tracks so, if they commit
