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The overall law and order situation in the first six months of 2015 remained stable with a slight increase in the overall crime figure, according to the Police Director of Crime and Security, Mr Lo Mung-hung.
Speaking at a press conference today (July 29) to review the crime situation in the territory between January and June this year, Mr Lo said that during the period, a total of 34,034 cases of crime were recorded, representing an increase of 118 cases or 0.3 per cent over the same period of 2014.
There were a total of 5,297 violent crime cases recorded in the first half of this year, a decrease of 2.2 per cent when compared with the corresponding period of last year.
Mr Lo said crimes including shop theft, deception, blackmail and rape recorded rises in the first six months of 2015.
There were 4,961 shop theft cases in the first half of 2015, an increase of 15.3 per cent over the same period of last year. Victimised shops were mainly supermarkets, chain shops of health and beauty products and convenience stores.
There were 4,875 cases of deception in the first six months of 2015, a rise of 11.5 per cent when compared with the same period of 2014. The increase was mainly attributable to offences via social media and telephone.
Social media deception was doubled from 466 cases in the first half of 2014 to 940 cases this year. Money loss dropped by 33.5 per cent to $28.6 million.
Mr Lo said: "Offenders recently changed their modus operandi by hacking into other social media accounts, pretending to be friends of victims and asking for phone numbers. Victims would be urged to receive some PIN codes and forward to the offenders, which were then used to steal the victims・ instant message application accounts for deceiving their friends.
"Members of the public are advised not to fully believe messages from the Internet or social media without verifying, and they should not release their personal details lightly. Liaison work with relevant application providers will also continue whenever necessary to minimise security loopholes."
In the first half of 2015, Police received 1,370 reports of telephone deception, a rise of 16.3 per cent over the same period last year. Money loss was $46.56 million, which was a 140 percent increase. ．Detained Son・ (929 cases), ．Guess Who・ (241 cases) and ．Pretend Mainland Officials・ (200 cases) were the three types of modus operandi. Among them, ．Detained Son・ and ．Pretend Mainland Officials・ cases marked a significant growth.
Unsuccessful rate was around 75 percent. Whilst the Force・s education and publicity initiatives have made the public more vigilant, money exchange shops and remittance agencies proactively reminding victims also contributed in preventing them from suffering loss.
"Recently, there was a significant increase in the ．Pretend Mainland Officials・ scams. There were 200 such cases in the first half of 2015, an increase of 196 over the same period of last year. From July 1 to 28, 729 reports were recorded with 263 successful cases and the loss amounting to $85.4 million. Offenders pretending to be staff of express delivery companies accused victims of delivering illegal items and transferred the calls to another accomplice who pretended to be Mainland public security or judiciary officials. Victims were then asked to prove their innocence by providing their personal details; or transferring money to designated Mainland bank accounts; or directly handing cash to accomplices pretending to be police officers. In some cases, victims were even asked to stay in hotels and cut connections with others so as to avoid arrest. In the meantime, their families were approached for ransom.
"We have set up a task force which is now collaborating with the Mainland authorities to combat this kind of telephone deception, and escalating public vigilance via all possible means. Public are reminded to stay calm when receiving suspicious calls, and always be cautious whenever they are asked for their personal details. Express delivery companies, Mainland government offices in Hong Kong or Hong Kong authorities will not transfer their telephone calls to Mainland public security departments. Mainland public security departments and Mainland government offices in Hong Kong will not ask anyone to transfer money to prove one・s innocence. Members of the public should report to the Police whenever in doubt," Mr Lo said.
On blackmail, there were 643 reports in the first six months of 2015, an increase of 221 cases over the same period of 2014. The increase was purely attributed by ．Naked Chat・ cases.
"Naked Chat・ cases rose to 506 this year, an increase of 60 per cent over the same period of last year. Around $1.6 million was lost, an increase of 33.3 per cent.
There were 41 rape cases in the first half of 2015, an increase of 19 cases over the corresponding period of last year. Two cases involved strangers and nine cases related to drunk victims. Thirty-nine cases were detected.
Mr Lo said figures of crimes recorded drops included miscellaneous theft (down 7.2 per cent), wounding and serious assault (down 6.5 per cent), domestic violence (crime) cases (down 16 per cent), serious drug cases (down 11.7 per cent), burglary (down 8.9 per cent), criminal intimidation (down 7.5 per cent), robbery (down 33 per cent) and indecent assault (down 9.8 per cent).
Mr Lo also talked about homicide and youth crimes in the press conference.
There were 11 homicide cases in the first half of 2015, a decrease of two cases when compared with the same period of last year. Three involved domestic violence and two were committed by relatives. Eight cases were detected.
The downward trend of youths arrested for criminal offences continued. A total of 2,270 youths were arrested in the first half of 2015, a drop of 0.7 per cent as compared with the same period of last year. Most of them were arrested for shop theft, wounding and serious assault, miscellaneous theft, serious drug offences, criminal damage and unlawful society offences.
In conclusion, Mr Lo said the overall crime situation in Hong Kong remained stable in the first half of 2015.
"Police will continue to closely monitor the situation, and place corresponding emphasis on emerging crimes. Alertness and support of the public and relevant business sectors are also essential in preventing and combating these types of crimes. We appeal for cooperation with the community," he said.
Ends/Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Issued at HKT 19:19
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