Changes are expected in next year's crime trends and patterns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report issued by a policy research institute run by the National Police Agency.
The report on 2021 crime trends, released Sunday by the Police Science Institute, said white-collar crimes such as fraud are expected to increase next year while the total number of crimes will decrease due to the impact of COVID-19. It also said the coronavirus situation is expected to affect the pattern of crimes related to drug and sex offenses.
According to the report, there were 1.18 million crimes committed as of September this year, a decrease of 0.2 percent from the same period last year. But the total number of white-collar crimes was 315,206, up 13.8 percent from 2019.
Of these cases, breach of trust and violation of the Check Control Act both decreased by 14 percent and 46.2 percent respectively, while fraud increased by 15.6 percent.
The number of voice phishing crimes decreased 16.7 percent, with activities of members of fraudulent groups restricted due to the COVID-19 situation, but the number of such crimes by messenger apps increased 14.6 percent. These included theft of social media IDs to access messengers including Kakao Talk and Facebook, which scammers used to request money from people, posing as an acquaintance or family member.
The report also said there is a concern that the number of crimes involving drugs could rise next year due to the increasing possibility of access to online distribution channels with the increased use of the Internet to replace outdoor activities.
Regarding sexual crimes, while physical offenses such as rape and sexual assault decreased this year, online sex offenses increased, with instances of sexual harassment using communication media tallying 1,466, up 42.6 percent compared to last year.