Macau’s total number of crimes reported in the first three quarters of this year dropped by 0.9 percent year-on-year to 9,966 from the 10,058 reported in the same period last year, the Secretariat for Security has announced.
The office (GSS) announced Macau’s January–September 2026 crime statistics on its website on Friday.
The police recorded 188 violent crime cases in the first nine months of this year, up by one case year-on-year (up 0.5 percent). The period saw no homicides, no kidnappings, but two cases of grievous bodily harm, compared to two homicides and two grievous bodily harm cases in the same period last year.
Rape cases rose by four year-on-year to 28. The website said that over 70 percent of the victims were non-locals, with some cases involving financial disputes between the victims and suspects. The police have not ruled out the possibility that the arguments stemmed from commercial sex work.
Cases of child sexual abuse – defined as involving minors under the age of 14 - increased by two year-on-year to 30.
The police recorded 32 robberies in the first three quarters of this year, unchanged from the same period last year, while drug trafficking cases dropped by four year-on-year to 44.
Fraud cases fell 8.5 percent year-on-year to 1,511, down from 1,652. Among these, phone scams dropped 25.0 percent to 147, while online fraud fell 45.4 percent to 238.
Consequently, the combined number of phone scams and online fraud cases stood at 385, a year-on-year decrease of 39.1 percent. The website said this highlighted the effectiveness of police anti-fraud efforts.
The police investigated 1,951 gaming-related crimes in the first three quarters of this year, a year-on-year increase of 12.3 percent. Among these, the police recorded 404 cases of illegal currency exchange (up 11.9 percent), 132 cases of loan sharking (down 12.6 percent), and nine cases of false imprisonment linked to gambling loans (down 57.1 percent).
According to the website, the police forces used their citywide CCTV surveillance system to investigate 9,493 cases in the first three quarters of this year, a year-on-year increase of 33.1 percent from the 7,131 in the same period last year.
The police recorded 61 drunk-driving cases in the first three quarters of this year, down 9.0 percent year-on-year.
This file photo taken earlier this year shows a car driving past S. Francisco Barracks, where the Secretariat for Security is located. – Photo: Tony Wong
