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The District Fight Crime Committees (DFCCs) and Police today (August 9) jointly held a bus parade to publicise fight crime messages and remind people to watch out for telephone deception.
Representatives of DFCCs, members of Senior Police Call and Junior Police Call, and Police officers took part in the bus parade. An open-top bus carrying banners with fight crime messages set off from Lam Tin, Kwun Tong, then toured various districts, stopping at Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan, Cheung Sha Wan and Causeway Bay.
Leaflets and souvenirs were distributed at the stopping points, reminding people to stay vigilant against telephone scams, which saw a significant increase in 2015.
Police figures show that in the first seven months of 2015, there were 2 371 telephone deception cases with monetary loss amounting to $175.7 million, a surge of 70 per cent compared with 1 395 cases over the same period last year.
There was a sharp rise in cases of telephone scams with swindlers pretending to be mainland officials. A total of 1 038 cases were found from January to July this year, in which 838 cases were reported in July involving a total amount of $126 million.
Police have set up a task force which is now collaborating with different parties to combat this kind of scam and will also continue to promote anti-crime messages through various channels.
Members of the public are reminded to stay calm when receiving suspicious calls, and always be cautious whenever they are asked for their personal details including bank account numbers and passwords. They should report to the Police whenever in doubt, a Police spokesman said.
Ends/Sunday, August 9, 2015
Issued at HKT 15:58
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