Since the beginning of April, more than 60 people in Barnet falsely reported a street robbery, five of whom were arrested at the end of last month.

People often falsely report crimes to try to get money from their insurance company after realising they are not covered by their policy for loss of an item but are covered for theft.

Between Monday and Tuesday, Detective Sergeant Michael Gornall, a specialist investigating false reports, dealt with two people who admitted falsely reporting phones as stolen.

Not only do these false allegations waste police time, he said, they also lay the person making the allegation open to prosecution and charges of perverting the course of justice.

Additionally, police say that four false reports of motor vehicle crime are made per day - or 20 per cent of all motor vehicle crime.

Det Sgt Gornall said: "The impact on the community is falsely inflated crime figures. They make people alarmed unnecessarily and fear crimes that never happened.

"People don't realise that they are committing such a serious offence but it is relatively easy to spot a false report, and these matters will be investigated."