Law and order situation in Hong Kong in 2025
The law and order situation in Hong Kong in 2025 is as follows:
1. Overall situation
A total of 89 137 crimes were recorded in 2025, representing a decrease of 5.9% (-5 610 cases) compared with 2024. The number of violent crimes dropped by 15.9% (-1 662 cases) to 8 823 cases.
The vast majority of major crimes recorded decreases, including robbery, burglary, rape, indecent assault, wounding and serious assault, theft, criminal damage, blackmail, youth crime and triad-related crimes. Deception also registered a slight decrease (-2.9%).
Crimes that recorded increases included homicide, serious drug offences and missing motor vehicles.
2. Deception
Over the past few years, Police have stepped up efforts to combat deception. Although the number of cases remained high in 2025, totalling 43 212 cases, the figure represented a slight decrease of 2.9% (-1 268 cases) compared with 2024. This marked the first decline, following consecutive annual rises in deception figures since 2019. Monetary losses also decreased, dropping from approximately $9.2 billion to about $8.1 billion, a decline of 11.3% (-$1.03 billion).
Deception cases accounted for nearly half of all reported crimes (48.5%). Among the various categories, e-shopping fraud (12 505 cases, +946 cases, +8.2%) was the most prevalent, accounting for 28.9% of all deception cases. Police noted that e-shopping fraud related to concert tickets increased significantly following the opening of the Kai Tak Sports Park in March 2025. A total of 2 805 cases were recorded last year, representing a year-on-year increase of 61.8% (+1 071 cases).
Online investment fraud accounted for the highest monetary loss, with 5 135 cases recorded, registering an increase of 30.7% (+1 205 cases). The total loss amount involved reached $3.58 billion, representing a rise of 58.4% (+$1.32 billion). While accounting for 11.9% of all deception cases, online investment fraud constituted 44.1% of the total monetary loss, with the average loss per case rising from about $580,000 in 2024 to about $700,000 in 2025.
There were 4 095 cases of online employment fraud, an increase of 6.3% (+242 cases). Most of these were “click farming” scams (96.5%), in which fraudsters falsely claimed that commissions could be earned by making advance payments to boost sales figures. In contrast, telephone deception recorded 8 621 cases, a decrease of 6.3% (-583 cases). This decline included a 20.4% drop in telephone deception cases involving “impersonating customer service”, a tactic that first appeared in 2024, which accounted for 4 440 cases (-1 135 cases). Phishing scams and “compensated dating scams” recorded 1 093 cases (-1 638 cases) and 1 122 cases (-907 cases) respectively, registering a 60% and 44.7% drop.
Four major strategies
Fraudulent activities have become highly industrialised, characterised by a sophisticated division of labour and a cross-border nature. To combat these scams, both local measures and cross-border collaboration are indispensable. Accordingly, Police have formulated four major strategic directions.
Combating fraud industry chains
The first strategy focuses on dismantling fraud industry chains. The priority is to tackle the use of telecommunications networks for fraudulent purposes at the source. In June 2025, the Hong Kong Police Force conducted a joint operation with its Singaporean counterpart, arresting eight persons suspected of using 400 000 Hong Kong mobile SIM cards to generate massive volumes of scam calls. In response, the working group established by Police, the Office of the Communications Authority and the telecommunications sector has been actively studying and implementing various countermeasures. Notably, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau will submit a legislative proposal in 2026, which includes lowering the registration limit for pre-paid SIM cards per user and introducing new offences targeting their improper use.
To tackle the downstream activities of fraud industry chains, Police are prioritising the crackdown on stooge accounts used to collect illicit proceeds. Apart from strengthening enforcement, expediting prosecutions and seeking enhanced sentencing, Police and the banking sector are actively exploring ways to prevent the opening of stooge accounts. With the new legislation allowing bank-to-bank information sharing on suspicious personal accounts coming into effect in late 2025, and the official launch of the upgraded version of the Police-bank information sharing platform, FINEST, on December 15, 2025, interbank information sharing has recorded a multi-fold increase. Participation is also set to expand from 10 to all 28 retail banks.
Furthermore, Police partnered with the banking sector to launch the “Upstream Scam Intervention” scheme in 2023. By analysing the transaction patterns of stooge accounts, officers proactively contacted potential victims to dissuade them from transferring further funds to fraudsters. In 2025, Police successfully intervened in 4 060 deception cases (+69.4%) and intercepted fraudulent payments totalling $480 million, representing a more than 1.5-fold increase (+158.4%) compared with 2024. The total monetary loss from deception cases in 2025 fell by $1.03 billion, with the successful interventions under this scheme accounting for nearly half of the decline.
In addition to combating stooge accounts, the Virtual Asset Intelligence Taskforce, mentioned in last year’s Policy Address, was established in October 2025. Chairing the taskforce, Police will strengthen intelligence exchange with the Customs and Excise Department, regulators, and industry partners to jointly combat virtual asset-related crimes. Key priorities include optimising the stop-payment mechanism to further clamp down on criminals using cryptocurrency to collect crime proceeds and launder money.
Targeted publicity
The second major direction is targeted publicity aimed at achieving precision in scam prevention. Last year, Police identified Mainland students and the elderly as key targets for publicity and allocated more resources to enhance the anti-scam awareness of these two high-risk groups.
The monetary loss incurred by Mainland students in telephone deception was 2.9 times higher than that of local students, averaging approximately $690,000 and $176,000 respectively. In response, Police carried out extensive publicity and educational work in 2025 to prevent Mainland students from falling victim to telephone deception. These efforts included conducting surveys, seminars, and arranging campus visits by the anti-scam icecream van, etc. Through these year-long efforts, Police noted an improvement in the situation regarding their involvement in telephone deception. The number of cases and the amount of loss decreased by 9.2% and 16.9% respectively.
However, it was also observed that the number of cases and the amount of loss involving Mainland students in investment fraud surged by 3.6 times (+362.5%) and 6.5 times (+649.6%) respectively. For the general public as a whole, the total loss from online investment fraud was the highest among all deception categories (accounting for 44.1%). Therefore, Police will adjust the key publicity focus in 2026 by shifting the priority from Mainland students to combatting investment fraud, with a view to deploying resources flexibly to maximise crime prevention effectiveness.
Separately, online investment fraud caused substantial losses, with one-third ($1.18 billion) involving virtual assets. Many victims incurred losses after downloading fake mobile applications created by fraudsters and depositing funds for investment. To counter this modus operandi, relevant prevention tips have been provided on “Scameter+”, and Police will continue to conduct targeted publicity.
Furthermore, in 80% (80.4%) of investment fraud cases, victims were contacted by fraudsters via individual mainstream social media platforms and instant messaging applications. Police will enhance communication with the relevant companies, expecting them not only to co-operate more effectively with police investigations by providing information and removing fraudulent accounts and posts, but also to be more proactive in identifying suspicious accounts and posts to expedite blocking.
Regarding the elderly, the number of victims has risen across various categories of deception. In particular, “Guess Who” telephone deception saw both the number of cases and the amount of loss surge by over 50% (+58.1% and +52.8% respectively). As many elderly victims were swindled out of their savings and pensions, Police will continue to prioritise the elderly in its publicity efforts, including organising a series of anti-deception activities and producing and broadcasting promotional videos.
Promoting greater use of “Scameter+”
Thirdly, Police will intensify the promotion of “Scameter+”. Although downloads reached 1.15 million by the end of 2025, the penetration rate still leaves room for improvement. Consequently, Police launched new features for “Scameter+” in October 2025, including automatic user database updates and expanded reporting categories covering SMS and instant messaging applications. New artificial intelligence technology was also introduced to analyse suspicious website links and webpage screenshots reported by the public to detect the impersonation of banks, couriers, investment platforms and others. Once confirmed as malicious, these websites are instantly added to the database to block access for all users.
Following the launch of these new features, public reports of suspicious phone numbers and websites surged by about 60% and about 50% respectively; the number of suspicious phone numbers and websites added to the database doubled; furthermore, “Scameter+” proactively identified and blocked 267 scam domains not yet reported by the public. Compared to the pre-upgrade period, the number of searches on “Scameter+” rose by 17.6%, while alerts issued by the app surged by 66.5%, exceeding 130 000 in December 2025 alone. Police also requested telecommunications operators to intercept suspicious calls and websites. This timely intervention prevented the public from accessing fraudulent messages and led to a significant drop in phishing scams (-60%).
International collaboration
Police are actively promoting and participating in international co-operation to combat cross-border fraud more effectively. To this end, Police established the Cross-border Anti-Scam Collaboration Platform, “FRONTIER+”, with various countries/regions at the end of 2024. Its first joint operation in 2025 resulted in over 1 800 arrests.
The platform now comprises 13 members. Police will continue inviting other countries/regions to join, with a view to enhancing effectiveness in intelligence exchange, interception of scam proceeds and joint enforcement actions. While attending the INTERPOL General Assembly in Morocco in late November 2025, the Commissioner of Police held in-depth discussions with representatives from various countries to explore ways to strengthen co-operation. As the 2026 General Assembly will be held in Hong Kong for the first time, Police will seize the opportunity to strengthen collaboration and exchanges with different countries and regions to jointly tackle cross-border crimes.
3. Homicide
There were 194 cases of homicide, including the 168 deaths caused by the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, which was classified as manslaughter. Police have so far arrested 16 persons for manslaughter in connection with the fire.
Of the remaining 26 cases, 16 (61.5%) involved domestic or family violence, compared with 10 such cases in 2024. Among all cases, only one case remained undetected; this involved a 49-year-old non-ethnic Chinese (NEC) woman who was killed in June 2025. Police are making every effort to bring the suspect, who remains at large, to justice.
4. Wounding and serious assault
There were 3 363 cases of wounding and serious assault, representing a decrease of 6.9% (-251 cases). Of these, 8.3% were triad-related. Police paid particular attention to cases involving triads and NEC persons (i.e. the number of NEC persons arrested for wounding and serious assault), which decreased by 10.3% and 9% respectively.
5. Robbery
There were 66 robbery cases, a decrease of 26.7% (-24 cases). This marked the lowest figure since records began in 1969, averaging one case every 5.5 days. The detection rate reached a high of 90.9%.
During the period, there were no robberies involving genuine firearms or stun guns. One bank robbery and two robberies involving large amounts of cash were all detected within a short period. With the aid of closed-circuit television (CCTV), an important investigative tool, and the dedicated and persistent investigation by Police officers, Police swiftly identified the suspects and successfully arrested them.
Intelligence work was also crucial to Police’s effective combat against robbery. In November 2025, acting on intelligence, Police laid an ambush in Hung Hom and arrested eight suspects attempting to rob the victims of 38 kg of gold dust with beef knives.
6. Burglary
A total of 816 burglary cases were recorded, representing a decrease of 33.1% (-404 cases). This was also a new historical low since 1969.
In 2025, Police began deploying drones for anti-burglary operations on high-risk days during long holidays. Consequently, burglary figures during the Easter and summer holidays dropped by 50% and 30.2% respectively. During the recent Christmas period, Police continued these operations, resulting in a 23.9% decrease in cases. Moving forward, Police will continue to deploy drones for anti-burglary operations during long holidays, such as the Chinese New Year.
7. Theft
A total of 20 032 theft cases were recorded, representing a decline of 10.7% (-2 401 cases). Most categories recorded decreases, including miscellaneous theft (-9.7%) and shop theft (-9.6%), while pickpocketing saw a significant drop of 56.3%. Notably, the figures for snatching (-23.4%) and theft from vehicles (-17.2%) reached their lowest levels since records began in 1969 and 1977 respectively.
Missing motor vehicles, however, recorded an increase. A total of 440 vehicles were involved, registering an increase of 51 vehicles (+13.1%). Half of these cases (220 vehicles) occurred in New Territories North (NTN) , an area characterised by its vast coverage and numerous rural and remote locations. Private cars and motorcycles accounted for over 80% (81.6%) of the total. Among the 440 missing motor vehicles, 24.1% were unauthorised use of vehicles taken from family members, friends, or car rental companies, etc.; 10.5% were taken for driving without a driving licence; and another 11.1% were used for committing crimes, primarily drug trafficking. Overall, 60.2% of the missing motor vehicles were recovered.
To combat the rise in vehicle theft, Police conducted multiple intelligence-led operations last year, arresting 44 persons and recovering 28 missing motor vehicles. Since July 2025, Police have also deployed drones to conduct aerial patrols at black spots for vehicle theft in NTN to enhance deterrence. Following months of enforcement actions, the increase in missing motor vehicle figures has gradually narrowed, slowing from a 53.5% increase in the first half of 2025 to a 13.1% increase for the whole year.
8. Blackmail
A total of 1 674 blackmail cases were recorded, representing a decrease of 44.8% (-1 357 cases). Of these, 78.4% were related to “naked chat” (1 312 cases), representing a drop of 46.1% (-1 122 cases).
Police noted that the proportion of students among victims rose from 18.7% in 2024 to 27.4%. In view of this, Police continued to enhance publicity and education efforts, including the publication of a new edition of the Youth Crime Prevention Booklet in September 2025, and the release of “Letters to Parents” on the “CyberDefender” website covering topics such as online child sexual grooming and the prevention of online sextortion.
9. Sexual offences
There were 68 rape cases, a decrease of nine cases (-11.7%). The detection rate stood at 95.6%. During the period, there was one case involving a stranger, which was detected.
A total of 1 137 cases of indecent assault were recorded, representing a drop of 48 cases (-4.1%). The detection rate was 78.9%.
Police have been closely monitoring the situation regarding sexual offences and no specific trend has been observed at this stage.
10. Serious drug offences
There were 1 281 serious drug cases, representing an increase of 15% (+167 cases). Cases involving etomidate accounted for 29.4% (376 cases).
Etomidate has become the most commonly abused drug overall and among youths, followed by cocaine and cannabis. Since etomidate was listed as a dangerous drug in February 2025, Police recorded 911 cases involving etomidate by the end of the year, resulting in 1 134 arrests, including 205 youths.
By the end of 2025, sentences had been handed down in 47 etomidate cases. Of these, 41 were cases of “possession of a dangerous drug”, with a maximum sentence of six months’ imprisonment, while the remaining six were cases of “trafficking in a dangerous drug”, resulting in imprisonment terms of up to 24 months. Police will closely monitor court sentences and maintain close communication with the Department of Justice to explore seeking appropriate sentencing guidelines from the court for etomidate as an emerging drug.
In August 2025, Police launched a 24-hour etomidate reporting hotline (6629 2966) as well as WhatsApp and WeChat accounts, which received 54 reports by the end of the year. The Government has also included etomidate in the “Healthy School Programme” for the 2025/26 school year to assist schools with early identification and the provision of counselling and support.
Believing that prevention is better than cure, Police will continue efforts in anti-drug education. In 2025, Police held 32 seminars and set up booths to share the latest anti-drug information with nearly 30 000 teachers. In 2026, Police will tour primary schools across various districts to stage 60 anti-drug drama performances. Furthermore, the Leadership Institute on Narcotics has launched its fifth cohort, receiving applications from 67 secondary schools, the highest number in the programme's history.
11. Triad-related crimes
A total of 1 944 triad-related crimes were recorded, representing a decrease of 16.4% (-381 cases).
Police remain committed to combating triad activities by mounting enforcement and intelligence-led operations, focusing specifically on targeting triad sources of income. In 2025, Police conducted the annual “THUNDERBOLT” operation in collaboration with the police authorities of Guangdong and Macao. A total of 4 140 persons were arrested in Hong Kong, with the seizure of cash and drugs worth approximately $550 million.
Separately, after several years of investigation and evidence gathering, Police conducted an enforcement operation in July 2025, arresting 82 members of a triad syndicate, including the ringleader, his family members and accomplices. During the operation, over $8 million in cash was seized, and illicit funds amounting to $1.13 billion were frozen. Subsequently, in August, Police dismantled the syndicate's organised cross-border prostitution operation and arrested 67 persons, including over 40 sex workers from various places. Police operations are ongoing.
12. Youth crime
In 2025, a total of 2 662 youths were arrested for criminal offences, representing a decrease of 6.3% (-178 persons). This marked the lowest figure on record since 1990, indicating that Police and various community sectors had achieved tangible results through sustained efforts to prevent and combat youth crime.
13. Relevant situation of national security
Since the Hong Kong National Security Law and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance came into force, the National Security Department of Police had arrested a total of 385 persons as at the end of 2025. More than half of them had been charged.
14. Conclusion
In 2025, the overall crime figure registered a drop (-5.9%). The vast majority of major crimes recorded decreases; in particular, the figures for robbery (-26.7%) and burglary (-33.1%) were the lowest on record.
Following the implementation of the SmartView project, the detection rates for various street crimes rose by 2.5 to 22.8 percentage points, while crime figures dropped by 3.1% to 71.8%. This demonstrates that the SmartView project has had a highly positive impact on crime prevention and detection, contributing to the continued stability of Hong Kong’s overall law and order situation.
Commissioner's Operational Priorities 2026
The Commissioner’s Operational Priorities 2026 are a continuation of the priority areas identified last year, with the addition of a new priority to underscore the importance attached to planning and executing the policing of major international events:
Safeguarding national security;
Combating violent crime;
Combating triads, syndicated and organised crime;
Combating dangerous drugs;
Combating deception and quick cash crime;
Enhancing cyber security and combating technology crime;
Enhancing public safety;
Enhancing counter-terrorism; and
Organising and policing of significant international events.
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Law and order situation in Hong Kong in 2025 Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Law and order situation in Hong Kong in 2025 Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
