Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak announced yesterday that between January and September the police recorded 7,329 suspected crimes, a year-on-year decrease of 16.7 per cent.
The number of reported computer crimes fell by nearly 70 per cent in the first three quarters of this year, but cyber-related fraud cases increased, up 22.5 per cent year-on-year to 462 cases. By the end of September, a total loss of about MOP 2.5 million was recorded in “fake order” fraud cases, which targeted 21 catering businesses.
Reported rape cases were down by 36 per cent year-on-year, while cases of child sexual abuse rose by 53.3 per cent from 15 in the first nine months of last year to 23 cases in the same period of this year.
The figures also showed an increase in the number of fraud victims meeting their predators through chat apps. The number of online nude chat extortion cases increased by more than 30 per cent year-on-year to 58 cases.
The police recorded 768 theft cases and 904 unlawful appropriation cases in the nine-month period. A total of 90 extortion cases were recorded, indicating an increase of 25 per cent year-on-year.
Violent crime dropped 43.6 per cent year-on-year to 114, among which, serious violent crimes such as kidnapping, homicide and the aggravated assault continued to have “low or zero incidences”.
Wong said the crime statistics show that the overall public security situation in Macao continued to be stable, adding that the overall number of crimes continued to decrease, and many types of crimes showed a downward trend.
Wong pointed out that the decrease may be related to intensified police action against various types of crimes, the decline in public activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the drop in the number of tourists.
Recently, Wong noted, the central government has announced a number of measures to benefit Macao, such as the resumption of tour groups for mainland tourists, adding that the number of tourists to Macao was likely to rebound.
Therefore, Wong underlined, the Secretariat for Security will continue to assess the impact of the measures by the central government on public security, research the changing trends of different kinds of crimes, and adjust the deployment of the police force at an appropriate time, The Macau Post Daily reported.
