Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak said yesterday that the crime situation from January to September was “generally stable”, adding, however, that the increase in fraud cases accounted for 43.9 percent of the increase in the overall crime volume.
According to official data cited by Wong, the number of fraud cases rose by 31.5 percent year on year to 2,160 in the first nine months of the year.
No. of crimes rises to 10,831
Releasing the first three quarters’ crime statistics during a press conference at the S. Francisco Barracks, Wong noted that the overall number of reported crimes amounted to 10,831 cases, a year-on-year increase of 1,178 cases, or 12.2 percent, and an increase of 233 cases, or 2.2 percent, compared with the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, underlining that serious violent crimes in Macau continued to maintain a “low crime trend”, with homicide or kidnapping cases reported from January to September significantly lower than those of the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.
In the first nine months of the year, according to Wong, there were 210 violent crime cases, including 40 rape and 34 robbery cases, representing year-on-year increases of 30 cases, or 16.7 percent; 13 cases, or 48.1 percent; four cases, or 13.3 percent; 89 cases, or 6.3 percent, respectively, while the number of cases involving arson, child sexual abuse and drug trafficking were down by three cases, or 9.7 percent; nine cases, or 37.5 percent; and two cases, or 5.4 percent from January to September last year to, respectively, 28 cases, 15 cases, and 35 cases this year.
Wong pointed out that with the resumption of air travel, the police received a total of 48 cases of theft on board aircraft from January to September, an increase of 21 cases and four cases over the same period in 2023 and 2019 respectively.
According to the statistics released yesterday, the number of suspected domestic violence notifications in the first half of this year was 104, of which six cases were confirmed as domestic violence offences, 63 were offences of causing bodily harm, and 32 are still under investigation.
Wong pointed out that the situation of juvenile delinquency in Macau has worsened, with a total of 89 cases reported from January to September, representing an increase of 14 and 42 cases compared with the same period last year and in 2019.
Moreover, in the nine-month period a total of 1,502 theft cases were recorded, a year-on-year growth of 6.3 percent.
Telecom, network & computer fraud
Meanwhile, in the first quarters of this year, there were a total of 2,160 cases involving telecom, network and computer fraud, of which 240 were phone fraud cases, a decrease of 33 cases and an increase of 157 cases respectively over the same period in 2023 and 2019, with over 70 percent of the cases involving the modus operandi of “impersonating government officials and officers”, Wong quoted the report as saying, noting that the number of online scam cases amounted to 721, an increase of 122 and 493 cases respectively over the same period in 2023 and 2019, with the main modi operandi including online investment, ticket sales and online shopping, while computer fraud stood at 581 cases in the first three quarters, of which 509 involved credit card online purchases and 54 related to sexual blackmail.
Wong said that the police forces have continued to deepen their three-pronged prevention and control model, namely anti-fraud prevention, recovery and combating crime, in a bid to curb fraudulent crimes, in which in terms of recovery, the Judiciary Police (PJ), in conjunction with the banking sector, have stopped suspicious remittances totalling over 80 million patacas, while the Judiciary Police have also notified the banking sector of 317 suspicious bank accounts, taking early warning, freezing and other measures according to the actual circumstances.
Wong added that in the area of combating fraud, the Judiciary Police have continued to strengthen their investigative capabilities and deepen exchanges of intelligence with their counterparts elsewhere, making every effort to combat fraudulent criminal activities in Macau, with a total of 203 suspected fraud gang members detained in the first three quarters of this year, while blocking, through a special mechanism with Macau’s telecom operators, 807 phishing websites in the first three quarters of this year.
Currency exchange fraud
Meanwhile, in the first three quarters of the year, the number of casino loansharking and false imprisonment cases amounted to 195 and 33 respectively, both higher than in the same period last year but significantly lower than in the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, with the suspects and victims predominantly non-local residents, and the vast majority of them being gaming-related offences, Wong said, adding that the new law banning illegal currency exchange operations has been effectively improving security in Macau’s casinos and their surrounding areas.
According to Wong, in the first nine months, a total of 2,835 illegal currency exchange dealers were intercepted by the Public Security Police (PSP) and the Judiciary Police in numerous operations, among whom 2,635 were non-local residents subject to deportation and travel ban measures, while 1,677 of them have meanwhile been banned by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) from entering local casinos.
Wong said that of the various types of offences arising from currency exchange gangs in the first three quarters, the most significant type of offence was fraud, with a total of 254 cases, an increase of 99 and a decrease of 37 compared to the same period in 2023 and 2019 respectively.
‘Officials of the next term to be officially announced’: Wong
When asked by the media whether he would continue in his current post during the next term of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) government, Wong said: “Principal officials of the next MSAR government have to be nominated by the new chief executive and then appointed by the central government, and there is an established procedure for everything. I believe that the central government will announce the relevant news within a short period of time. At this stage, there is no information that can be disclosed to the public, pending official notification and announcement.”
Macau’s new chief executive Sam Hou Fai and other MSAR principal officials are scheduled to be sworn in on December 20.
Wong, 56, has been Macau’s top public security official since 2014. He is a former public prosecutor and director of the Judiciary Police (PJ). Wong holds a doctorate in Law from Peking University. He also attended university courses in Law and the Portuguese language and culture in Portugal in the early 1990s.
Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak addresses yesterday’s press conference at the S. Francisco Barracks about Macau’s 2024 first-three quarters crime statistics. – Photo: Ginnie Liang
