The total number of reported scams increased 28.8 percent year on year to 219 in the first quarter, Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak said yesterday, noting a “noticeable rise” in the number of reported phone scams which rose from 9 in the first three months of last year to 22 in the same period this year.
Addressing a press conference about the city’s first-quarter crime figures at the Secretariat for Security (GSS) in the S. Francisco Barracks, Wong said phone scams had made a comeback, noting that such scams involved 24.9 million patacas in the first three months of the year.According to Wong, most of the phone scams are committed by criminals pretending to be local or mainland police officers intent on tricking residents into transferring money into their bank accounts.
Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak addresses yesterday’s press conference about the city’s first-quarter crime statistics at the Secretariat for Security (GSS) in the S. Francisco Barracks. Photo: Debby Seng
