Off the wire
• Urgent: Indonesia's investigators to release preliminary result of AirAsia probe soon  • China appoints senior officials  • Senior Chinese official discusses judicial cooperation with U.S. justices  • US says Greek objections to new anti-Russia sanctions not a concern for Washington  • Spotlight: Cuban leader points out obstacles to mending ties with U.S.  • Ghana to scale up Jubilee oil production with expanded development  • Yuan Dynasty tombs unearthed in north China  • FLASH: INDONESIA'S NATIONAL TRANSPORT SAFETY COMMITTEE TO ANNOUNCE PRELIMINARY RESULT OF INVESTIGATION ON CRASHED AIRASIA PLANE: OFFICIAL  • China to expand Shanghai FTZ policies nationwide  • Kiwi FM's Antarctic flight makes dramatic landing  
You are here: 　 Home

Singapore's crime rate rose due to surge in e-commerce cheating cases

Xinhua, January 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

The overall crime rate in Singapore rebounded in 2014 after it reached a 30-year low in 2013, the Singapore Police Force said in its annual statistics report on Thursday.

The crime rate, which rose 7.4 percent, was largely driven by a surge in the number of cases involving e-commerce, police said, adding that the number of such cases increased by 225.3 percent year-on-year to 1,659 cases in 2014.

Police attributed the increase to a growing number of people shopping online last year. Cases of victims lured into making multiple payments online rose from 269 cases in 2013 to 904 cases last year, with a total of 735,000 Singapore dollars loss reported.

A new type of scam, which asks victims to purchase gift cards or virtual credits also emerged last year, with 149 cases reported, police said.

Housebreaking and related crimes rose dramatically by 35.5 percent last year, while statutory rape cases rose from 51 cases in 2013 to 66. Police said that most of the offenders were youths who knew the victims.

The number of youths arrested increased by 2.1 percent to 3,094 in 2014, among which 314 were arrested for rioting.

In the meantime, the number of harassment cases related to unlicensed money lending fell by 18.3 percent in 2014. Endi