Hong Kong records nearly sixfold rise in technology-based crimes in a decade, with monetary losses of HK$2.96 billion in 2020 alone, police say
- Cybercrime reports rose from 2,206 in 2011 to 12,916 last year, while the amount of money involved increased from HK$148 million to HK$2.96 billion
- Surge last year mainly fuelled by sharp rise in online shopping swindles, including mask scams, amid coronavirus pandemic, police say
Hong Kong recorded a nearly sixfold increase in the number of technology-based crimes in the past decade, hitting about 13,000 cases and monetary losses totalling HK$2.96 billion in 2020 alone, the latest figures show.
According to police, reports of cybercrime rose from 2,206 in 2011 to 12,916 last year, while the amount of money involved was 20 times higher, increasing from HK$148 million to HK$2.96 billion.
Last year’s case figure was also up 55 per cent from the 8,322 recorded in 2019.
Superintendent Terry Cheung Tin-lok of the cyber security and technology crime bureau said the surge in cybercrime in 2020 was mainly fuelled by a sharp rise in the number of online shopping scams.
Police handled 6,678 reports of internet shopping fraud last year, up more than 200 per cent from 2,194 cases in 2019.
“The amount of money involved also increased 350 per cent to more than HK$120 million last year [from HK$27.3 million the year before],” Cheung said.
