The number of criminal cases involving the use of computers rose 9 percent during the year 2000, according to the Hong Kong Police, which is finding Internet-related crimes increasingly more complex.

Hong Kong's Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB) said it investigated 380 computer-related criminal cases last year. The cases mostly involved hacking, obtaining property by deception, obscene material and criminal damage. The number of such cases increased rapidly during 1999, from only 34 in 1998. But the CCB says it is having to investigate increasingly "technical and complicated" crimes, especially those involving the Internet. But it maintains that most hacking is simply students showing off to their peers. CCB Senior Superintendent Raymond Lau Chi-keung said that the bureau has had to do a lot of talking with service providers and IT professionals to keep up-to-date with the latest technology developments. Lau also takes part in the Interpol Asia and South Pacific Regional Working Party of IT Crime. He added that the bureau would expand its Computer Crime Section into a division complete with a forensic computer crime lab and training across the Police force. Hacking into Web sites can result in prison sentences of up to 10 years in Hong Kong.