Hong Kong crime levels up last year, fuelled by 45 per cent jump in deception cases, 70 per cent of them online scams
- Crime up 8.7 per cent, driven by surge in online scams and phone fraud, Police Commissioner Raymond Siu says
- Siu says rise in crimes of deception ‘very significant’ and increased publicity was needed to protect people
Hong Kong crime levels jumped 8.7 per cent in 2022 compared with the year before, driven by a surge in scams involving online shopping, employment and investment, as well as phone fraud, police have said.
The force on Tuesday said deception cases also registered a year-on-year 45.1 per cent increase, but violent crime dropped by 7.9 per cent over the period.
The number of robberies and burglaries recorded in 2022 were also the lowest since records began in 1969, with 77 and 886 cases, respectively, recorded by the force last year.
Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu Chak-yee said the increase in deception cases was “very significant”.
Speaking at a meeting of the Legislative Council’s panel on security earlier in the day, Siu admitted the low rate for solving deception cases was the major factor behind the force’s lower rate overall for solving crimes, which fell by 3.3 per cent to 35.2 per cent in 2022 from the year before.
He explained that the public had spent more time online over the Covid-19 pandemic and had been more exposed to scams.
There were a total of 27,923 deception cases last year, nearly 40 per cent of total crimes recorded, up 45 per cent on 2021.
The figures showed about 70 per cent of the deception cases involved online scams.
Siu said increased publicity was needed to highlight the problem and that the take-up for police anti-fraud warnings by the public was low.
“Many of the victims, when we talk to them, they knew that we have anti-deception publicity, but when asked whether they have looked into the content, they said ‘no’,” Siu explained.
Deception cases increase in Hong Kong as other major crimes drop
He also asked people to make sure their families and friends were aware of tactics used by scammers.
There were 8,830 crimes of violence over the year, compared with 9,587 in 2021, a drop of 7.9 per cent.
The violent crimes category includes offences such as murder, robbery, arson, rape and blackmail.
Figures for wounding, serious assault and arson were also the lowest since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule in 1997.
Siu said the city’s law and order situation was “stable”, with the chief executive election and activities related to the 25th anniversary of the handover on July 1 passing off without incident.
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The force said it had not yet recorded any increases in face-to-face crime as the city returned to normality after Covid-19 restrictions, but that it would monitor developments.
Siu also unveiled the force’s operational priorities for 2023, with national security and terrorism among the areas singled out.
He said national security was one of the force’s “major tasks” and more attention had to be concentrated on it.
Sui said, despite the city’s return to stability after Beijing’s imposition of the national security law in 2020, the force would not rule out “domestic terrorism going underground” and people becoming involved in seditious behaviour online and offline.
