By Rachel Chan

MORE people were caught for being involved in unlicensed moneylending activities last year, as more people turned to loan sharks to tide them over financial woes during the recession, the police said.

There were 18,600 such cases last year, a 58 per cent increase from 11,000 cases in 2008, said Senior Assistant Commissioner Ng Boon Gay, director of the Criminal Investigation Department.

The figure is expected to continue rising even with the upturn in the economy, because even the amount of bad debt in the legal moneylending industry is increasing, he said.

Last year also saw more housebreaking cases and thefts.

More Housing Board flats with poor quality locks, and education or care centres not secured with security alarm systems, suffered from break-ins. The number of thefts in public places (4,765 cases), shop thefts (5,231 cases), and bicycle thefts (1,074 cases) grew by 9.3 per cent, 4 per cent and 59.1 per cent respectively.

Both loansharking and thefts were two of the four types of crimes that the police expect to become more prevalent this year. The other types are scams and crimes committed against elderly persons.

Cheats are expected to come back with more cunning ploys, while an ageing population leaves more elderly people vulnerable to crime, said the police's director of public affairs, Assistant Commissioner Ng Guat Ting.

Nonetheless, overall crime has fallen by 0.4 per cent, with the total tally of cases dropping from 33,113 cases in 2008 to 32,968 cases last year.

The number of cases fell in four main types of crimes: crimes against persons, where the victim suffers bodily harm; violent property crimes, which involve the taking of money or property by force; commercial crimes, comprising mainly cheating offences; and miscellaneous crimes that include disorderly behaviour and trespassing.

Notably, the number of phone scams were slashed by more than half last year, from 434 cases in 2008 involving $7.6 million, to 212 cases involving $3 million last year. Last year, 13 offenders were arrested.

"Singapore remains a safe place to live and work in but we need the community to continue to remain vigilant," said assistant commissioner Ng Guat Ting.

rachchan@sph.com.sg

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