Macau's police forces recorded 1,307 suspected fraud cases last year, a year-on-year increase of 29.8 percent, Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak announced in a statement yesterday.
The figure included 524 online scam cases, a year-on-year growth of 40.1 percent. The online fraud cases included romance and gambling scams.
The number of telephone scam cases leaped by 193.5 percent year-on-year to 91.
Last year, the police recorded 800 Internet crime cases, a 50.7 percent increase compared to 2020.
Wong described Macau's public security situation last year as "stable," pointing out that there has been no significant increase in violent crimes over the past two years.
In 2021, the police recorded 255 violent crime cases, an increase of 12 cases, or 4.9 percent, compared to 2020.
A total of three homicides were recorded by the police last year, one more than in 2020. The three cases were related to illegal currency exchange activities, the statement pointed out.
The police also recorded 51 arson cases last year, a year-on-year growth of 10.9 percent, as well as 80 usury (popularly known as loan sharking) cases, 2.6 percent more than in 2020.
Wong also pointed out in the statement that the police used CCTV footage when investigating 3,531 cases last year. He underlined that the CCTV footage helped solve a number of violent crimes, including last year's three homicides.
According to the statement, the police recorded 11,376 suspected crime cases last year, a year-on-year increase of 13.1 percent.
