Hong Kong recorded 31,434 crime cases in the first half of this year, a 1.8% rise compared to the same period last year, Police said today.

The increase in overall crimes is mainly due to the rise of over 3,000 deception cases. There were also significant increases in blackmail and homicide cases.

However, substantial decreases were registered in various major crimes. The force said the city’s law and order situation in the first half of this year remained stable.

The number of deception cases rose 41.7% to 12,326, over 70% of which were Internet-related.

The rise was mainly driven by the upsurge in online shopping, employment and investment fraud cases as well as telephone deception.

The pecuniary loss involved in investment and telephone scam cases was over $700 million and $400 million.

Police reminded members of the public to stay vigilant when receiving unfamiliar telephone calls purporting to be from government officials across the boundary or calls about detained parcels.

If in doubt, the public should immediately call Police’s 24-hour Anti-Scam Helpline 18222.

They may also visit the Anti-Deception Coordination Centre website and the CyberDefender platform for the latest anti-deception information.

A total of 921 blackmail cases were recorded, an increase of 30.3% compared with the same period last year. The upsurge was mainly attributable to “naked chat” blackmail.

As at June 30, Police arrested a total of 201 people in its efforts to enforce the National Security Law. Over half of the arrestees have been charged.

As at mid-July, the Counter-terrorism Reporting Hotline 63-666-999 received over 3,800 messages, and Police have been following up on reports involving terrorism or violence.