AN Internet fraud ring, which had netted goods worth more than £100,000, has been smashed by police.

Property including computer equipment and furniture was seized by officers from Cleveland Police investigating the large-scale fraud.

At the weekend, officers carried out searches of properties in the Clavering and Rift House areas of Hartlepool, as part of their investigations into Internet fraud.

They recovered a large amount of property believed to be purchased fraudulently over the Internet, as well as documents referring to thousands of pounds worth of other property.

A man in his 20s and two youths, aged 17 and 16, were yesterday helping police with their inquiries.

Detective Sergeant Chris Stephenson said: "These arrests are a warning to those involved in Internet fraud that the police are pro-actively making inquiries to arrest and prosecute anyone involved."

Det Sgt Stephenson called on anyone with information about goods bought fraudulently over the Internet to contact the police, or risk being caught up in the illegal web.

He said: "I would urge anyone who has purchased new items of property at a cheap rate over the past few months to get in touch with us before we trace them and treat them as suspects, rather than witnesses."

So much property was recovered during the raids that police had to use a secure unit in the area to store the goods.

The arrests come just months after an announcement that a unit of national cyber cops is to be set up to combat Internet paedophiles, fraud and extortion rackets.

The £25m unit will include an 80-strong squad which will be based centrally and around England and Wales, in regional police forces. Each force will have at least one cyber cop to tackle Internet crime in their area.

The cyber force will also work to combat hackers and dangerous computer viruses, like the I Love You bug which wreaked havoc with systems last summer.

Up to 40 investigators will be based at the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit in London, and 46 in local forces