The SUN HK : HK crime rate surges by 8.7%, largely due to online scams

14 February 2023

While internet fraud worsened, the number of violent crimes dropped to lowest levels

There was a jump of 8.7% in Hong Kong’s overall crime rate, police said at a meeting of the Legislative Council’s security panel Tuesday.

Of the more than 70,000 crimes recorded last year, 28,000 or 40%, were related to scams involving online shopping, employment and investments, as well as phone fraud.

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Victims lost about 1.8 billion in all, mostly to scammers they met only online.

Fake investment schemes took a big chunk of the illicit money, while fraudsters who offered fake jobs also raked it in.

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Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu said the increase in fraud cases was significant, but it could be due largely to people having more time to trawl the internet as they spent longer time indoors due to the pandemic.

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He also admitted the low arrest rate in deception cases was behind the drop in the force’s ability to solve crimes, which fell by 3.3 percent to 35.2 percent.

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But a lack of complete awareness on how to detect a scam could also be a factor. Siu said police had stepped up its campaign to inform the public about how scammers operate, but many victims admitted to not paying enough attention to the message.

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While internet-related crimes had worsened during the pandemic, other serious crimes such as robbery and wounding dropped to their lowest levels ever.

There were 77 reported cases of robbery last year, and 886 of burglary, the lowest since record-taking started in the late 60s..

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Siu said the police is talking with telecommunication companies on the possibility of setting up a verification system for text messages to ensure the source is trustworthy, as a way to cut down on internet fraud..