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.