Extra officers are to be drafted in to fight a rising tide of online crime as police prepare to open a cybersecurity centre by the end of the year.
Police recorded 1,299 technology-related crimes in the first half of this year, a 41 per cent rise year-on-year. Victims lost HK$64 million - up from HK$4 million.
Commercial e-mail scams accounted for 169 of the crimes, a five-fold increase on the 29 in the same period last year. The number of computer hacking cases increased from 191 to 425.
A dedicated anti-cyberfraud team was created in March and has since arrested eight people suspected of carrying out e-mail scams and frozen HK$17 million in bank accounts.
Twenty-seven officers will work in to the centre, including one chief inspector and three senior inspectors.
The overall number of crimes remained steady, at 37,584 up from 37,443 in the first half of last year.