This Aug 21, 2019 photo shows Hong Kong Police Headquarters in Hong Kong. (MAO SIQIAN / XINHUA)

Hong Kong police have beefed up efforts to curb fraud, including job scams in Southeast Asian countries that lured 46 Hong Kong residents, setting up an “e-Hub” crime analysis center on Monday.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said on Monday that among the scam victims, 33 have been confirmed safe and 25 have returned home safely. Police said victims were lured to the countries with promises of high-paying jobs and then held in captivity or coerced to engage in illegal activities.

READ MORE: One more SE Asia job scam victim comes back safely to HK

The newly established E-Crime Processing and Analysis Hub, or e-Hub, is expected to enhance the efficiency of investigations by using computers to analyze links among frauds and scams. Police hope that through the center, reported cases will be referred to the Criminal Investigation Team for follow-up within the same day.

The newly established E-Crime Processing and Analysis Hub, or e-Hub, is expected to enhance the efficiency of investigations by using computers to analyze links among frauds and scams

Police said that in the first half of this year, fraud accounted for 40 percent of all crimes, with technology crimes and fraud accounting for about 80 percent of all fraud cases.

A sharp increase in cybercrimes and fraud reports through online reporting platforms was recorded in Hong Kong, with the number of such reports growing from 9,900 in 2019 to nearly 20,000 last year, said Wong Yam-wing, chief inspector of the new department.

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Police found that most scams are linked, with some having the same source. In order to better integrate investigation resources and respond to reports quicker, the police established e-Hub to facilitate the process. Related cases will be put before the same investigation team for follow-up.

Computers will analyze information provided by different fraud victims, including social media accounts, bank accounts and phones of the con artists, to ascertain the correlation between cases.

The Police Force will also upgrade the e-reporting platform for crime and fraud cases. The revamped system will allow the public to fill in related information within a few minutes, such as the details of each transaction, bank accounts, and social media accounts, and upload up to 30 file attachments when reporting crimes.

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