Macau’s Judiciary Police (PJ) said Friday that a total of 579 gaming-related crimes were recorded between January and May of 2024, an increase of 75.5% year-on-year.
In the first five months of this year, there were 104 cases of loansharking and 17 cases of related detention recorded, an increase of 86 cases and 14 cases year-on-year respectively. Cases of theft and failure to report found objects increased, with the relevant cases mainly occurring in gaming districts with high pedestrian flow.
In addition, the number of gaming-related fraud cases increased by 52 cases to 130 cases, with the PJ noting that 66.7% of the gaming fraud cases were closely related to money exchange gangs.
Between January and May, the PJ and the Public Security Police intercepted 1,924 money exchange gang members, of which 927 were referred to the DICJ to be placed on the prohibited casinos list. A total of 30 Macau residents were notified of engaging in illegal money exchanges in order to start administrative penalty procedures.
According to the PJ, although there were no cases of murder and kidnapping in Macau in the first five months of this year, and serious crimes continued to maintain a low trend of occurrence, social security remained stable. However, crimes related to the gaming and tourism industries are on the rise, and the trend of increasing fraud and information crimes continues.
