The overall law and order situation in Hong Kong continued to improve in 2018, Commissioner Lo Wai-chung said at a year-end press conference on January 29.

Mr Lo said the overall crime figure dropped to 54 225 cases, a decrease of 1 792 cases or 3.2 per cent when compared with 2017. The figure was the lowest since 1974. The crime rate measuring by the number of crimes per 100 000 population stood at 728 cases, representing a new low since 1970.

A total of 8 884 cases of violent crime were recorded in 2018, a drop of 202 cases (down 2.2 per cent) when compared with 2017.

Majority of the crime categories registered decreases, including robbery, burglary, theft, rape, serious drugs offences, criminal intimidation, arson, criminal damage and triad-related crimes. Major crimes on increase included homicide, deception, blackmail, indecent assault and domestic violence crimes.

Homicide, deception & blackmail

There were 48 cases of homicide in 2018, a rise of 24 cases from 2017. All the cases were detected. The surge was due to a serious traffic accident in February 2018 in which a bus side-turned on Tai Po Road and tragically claimed the lives of 19 victims. The driver had been charged with manslaughter. Majority of the remaining 29 cases involved disputes among couples, family members, relatives, neighbours and residents in residential care homes.

In 2018, 8 372 cases of deception were recorded, a rise of 1 281 cases or 18.1 per cent. There were 615 cases of telephone deception in 2018, a drop of 38 per cent when compared with 2017. The pecuniary loss was $60 million, a decrease of over $160 million.

Significant increase was noted in social media deception, online business fraud, email scam and investment fraud.

In 2018, social media deception totalled 2 064 cases, a rise of 1 001 cases or 94 per cent over 2017. The pecuniary loss increased by 2.5-fold to $500 million. Among them, 596 cases were "romance scam", which was a 1.5-fold increase from 2017. A loss of $450 million (up 3.2-fold) was recorded.

Police have been maintaining close co-operation with overseas law enforcement agencies. Last October, the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau (CSTCB) mounted a joint operation with Singapore and Malaysia police. A "romance scam" syndicate based in Malaysia was neutralised, and 52 syndicate members, including the mastermind, were arrested. The syndicate was related to over a hundred "romance scam" cases that took place in Hong Kong.

Online business fraud totalled 2 717 cases in 2018, 721 cases more than 2017, involving a loss of $56 million. E-shopping fraud accounted for most of the cases. Majority of them involved trading that took place on online trading platforms.

There were 894 email scams in 2018, a rise of 201 cases compared with 2017. Most of them were corporate level email scams, which recorded 887 cases, a rise of 204 cases, incurring a loss of $1.71 billion. Majority of the victimised organisations had no connection with Hong Kong, but the scammers received money through Hong Kong bank accounts.

As for investment fraud, there were 212 cases in 2018, a rise of 75 cases. The loss increased by $1.61 billion to $1.77 billion. Half of the loss involved Loco London Gold fraud.

In 2018, there were 15 cases of Loco London Gold fraud, a drop of four cases compared with 2017. However, the number of victims increased eight-fold to 299 persons, resulting in relatively greater loss of $800 million (up 31-fold). The fraudsters acquainted citizens from different social circles through social media, and subsequently the relatives of the victims in a short period of time, causing more victims to fall into traps.

Last year, Police enhanced law enforcement against Loco London Gold fraud and e-shopping fraud. Multiple enforcement actions were conducted, with over 250 and 120 persons arrested respectively. Financial investigations are in progress to seek confiscation of over $400 million in criminal proceeds.

As for interception of payments, through close co-operation with banks, the Anti-Deception Coordination Centre has managed to intercept payments amounting to over $1.4 billion made by victims in 551 deception cases and prevented 254 would-be deception cases since its establishment in July 2017.

Most deception cases involved the application of social media or information technology, and therefore, Police will step up efforts in preventing and combating deception through strategies including conducting crime prevention campaigns, strengthening law enforcement, intercepting payments and enhancing cyber security.

Publicity and education is one of the most effective strategies in combating deception. Considering the changes of the citizens' habit of getting information, it becomes more important to carry out crime prevention work by utilising social media.

"The Force will further develop platforms to communicate with members of the public, including the Police Weibo and Twitter, which are officially launched today, so that the anti-crime messages can be reached out to citizens, new arrivals and tourists on different social media platforms," said Mr Lo.

In 2018, 635 cases of blackmail were recorded, a rise of 56 cases from 2017. The increase in the number of cases was mainly due to the emergence of a new modus operandi in mid-2018. Scammers sent out emails to victims claiming that their computers had been hacked, and blackmailed them for money or virtual currency. Such modus operandi accounted for 109 cases and only one case incurred loss. Upon analysis, the CSTCB believed that the scammers sent out a large number of phishing emails to cheat and no ransomware was involved.

Indecent assault & domestic violence

A total of 1 099 indecent assault cases were recorded in 2018, a rise of two per cent. The increase was mainly driven by cases that took place on public transport or at transport stations.

There were 1 413 domestic violence crime cases, up by 1.4 per cent. Most cases involved wounding and serious assault, criminal intimidation and criminal damage.

Robbery & burglary

In 2018, 147 cases of robbery were recorded, a drop of 16 cases over 2017. The figure marked a new low since relevant record was first kept in 1969. No case involved genuine guns in 2018. There were five goldsmith and watch shop robberies involving substantial amounts of loss last year. All cases were detected with the arrest of 20 persons and the recovery of the majority of the lost property.

There were 1 575 burglaries in 2018, a drop of 15.9 per cent over 2017. The number also marked a new low since relevant record was first kept. However, an increase was noted for villa burglaries, which totalled 115 cases, a rise of 53.3 per cent. In the light of the rising trend, Police will step up patrol in relevant areas to raid potential hideouts of the culprits. Since some of the burglars were from the Mainland, Police will enhance intelligence exchange with the Mainland law enforcement agencies to prevent the burglars from entering the territory to commit crimes. Police will also enhance crime prevention work against villa burglaries.

Serious drugs offences & triad-related crimes

There were 1 399 serious drugs cases in 2018, a drop of 9.9 per cent when compared with 2017. Despite the drop in the number of cases, the amount of seizure (including cocaine, "Ice", heroin and ketamine) has risen. The increase in the seizure amount was attributed to a number of successful intelligence-led operations mounted by Police and the Customs and Excise Department. Police will continue to strengthen intelligence exchange and operational collaboration with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies, and keep combating drug trafficking by intercepting drug inflows and tracking relevant proceeds.

In 2018, 1 715 triad-related crimes were recorded, a drop of 83 cases compared with 2017. Majority of the offences were wounding and serious assault. From December last year to early January this year, several wounding cases arising from conflicts among triad factions happened in Tseung Kwan O, Yau Ma Tei and Kwun Tong and aroused public concern. Police were highly concerned with the cases. The Organized Crime and Triad Bureau together with the Regional Anti-Triad Units conducted various intelligence-led operations, which resulted in the arrest of 58 persons for wounding, possession of offensive weapons, etc. The Force tolerates no triad-related violence crime and will further enhance enforcement efforts in combating triad-related activities.

NEC & youth crimes

Last year, 28 966 persons were arrested for crimes, down by 1 400 persons over 2017. Among them, 4 021 were non-ethnic Chinese (NEC), down by 426 persons. A total of 1 150 NEC Form 8 holders were arrested for crimes, representing a drop of 25 per cent. The NEC criminals were arrested mainly for shop theft, miscellaneous theft, wounding and serious assault.

A continuous downtrend was noted in the number of NEC illegal immigrants. There were 639 NEC illegal immigrants in 2018, a decrease of 254 persons over 2017. Police will continue to combat human-smuggling syndicates through intelligence-led actions.

In 2018, the number of youths arrested for crimes was 2 769, up by 1.4 per cent over 2017. Most of them were arrested for wounding and serious assault, miscellaneous theft and shop theft.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the overall crime figure in 2018 further decreased, which was the lowest since 1974. Most major crimes, such as robbery and burglary, hit their record low since relevant record was first kept in 1969. The law and order situation remained stable.

"The level of confidence and comments of the public towards the Force saw continuous improvement. The Police Service Satisfaction Survey and the Public Opinion Survey in 2018 showed that we have attained the highest rating ever in many items. A number of international researches and reports rate different indexes, including the 'reliability of police service' and level of law and order. Among over 100 countries and areas, Hong Kong ranks high globally and our position ascended in 2018 compared with the previous year in the same researches," said Mr Lo.

"It is very encouraging for the management team and me seeing the achievements last year. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to my fellow colleagues for their commitment and dedication to serving members of the public in every position, fulfilling their pledges made when joining the Force.

"Not to be missed is the citizens' support for the work of the Force and their efforts in fighting crimes together with the Force.

"Despite the satisfactory law and order situation, we will not be complacent. In the face of an ever-changing external environment and modus operandi, Police will continuously strengthen our capabilities, meet the challenges, improve our services and maintain law and order in Hong Kong," Mr Lo concluded.

Also attending the press conference were Deputy Commissioner (Management) Chiu Wai-yin and Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Tang Ping-keung.