Overall crime drops 4%
January 28, 2014
The overall law and order situation in Hong Kong improved in 2013, with a 4% drop in crime.
Delivering his year-end review today, Commissioner of Police Andy Tsang said a total of 72,911 crime cases were recorded and the detection rate remained stable at 43.2%, compared with 43.6% in 2012.
He said 7,518 cases of deception were registered in 2013, an increase of 595 cases or 8.6%, mainly in e-mail scams (up 891 cases), online business fraud (up 344 cases) and social media fraud (up 132 cases).
There were 733 blackmail cases recorded in 2013, a rise of 440 cases or 1.5-fold over 2012, mainly due to the rise of ‘naked chat’ blackmail.
There were 477 such blackmail cases in 2013, up more than seven times over the 60 such cases in 2012. The victims, mostly men, forked over anywhere from $100 to $90,000 so that the mostly women who stripped off their clothes online would not post the pictures of their victims simultaneously stripping off in front of their webcam. A majority of the fraudsters looked like non-ethnic Chinese and most of the money extorted was sent to the Philippines.
Mr Tsang added a new Police bureau is proposed to fight against Internet crime.
In respect of public safety, Police will continue engaging public event organisers to enhance mutual understanding and public support.
During the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Finance Ministers' Meeting in Hong Kong this coming September, Police will ensure a safe environment.
