Police Commissioner Raymond Siu has said that the force is stepping up efforts to keep young people informed about the rising threat of cybercrime, including the use of deepfake technology.

The force on Monday published the third edition of its youth crime prevention booklet, which included topics like cyber risks involving so-called deepfakes, a term for sophisticated AI-generated images depicting real people, as well as online fraud and sex related crimes.

At a media briefing ahead of the launch, Siu said there's a need to increase public awareness of cybercrime, as it is not only an issue for Hong Kong.

"In fact, this is a global trend... In particular, technology crime, we mentioned about deepfakes. Because with the advancement of technology nowadays, I'm sure that the trend will continue," he said.

"We have to include all these, not just for young guys, but all ages. And we have been doing a lot on this in order to do more publicity with a view to prevent this sort of trend to continue to deteriorate."

Senior superintendent Wong Ping-ping said the booklet presents real-life examples to help educators understand more about crime.

"We rely on teachers to help us do preventive measures by educating the youngsters on the latest trend of crime. They will help us educate students, youngsters to be more alert and not to be lured into committing crime or being a victim of the crimes," she said.

Officers said about 1,500 teenagers, aged between 10 and 20, were arrested for criminal offences in the first half of this year, which was a five percent drop when compared with the average number in the past decade.

The force said 50,000 booklets would be delivered to primary and secondary schools, youth service groups and public libraries.