The number of cheating cases involving e-commerce in Singapore surged to 504 cases in the first half of this year, compared with 96 cases in the first half of 2013, the police said Wednesday.

The police said that 15,219 criminal cases were reported between January and June in Singapore, up 1.4 percent from the 15, 006 cases in the same period last year.

The number of cases hit 10-year lows for housebreaking, theft and related crimes.

Of the e-commerce scams, the number of multiple payment online purchase scams rose from 13 cases to 302 cases, with at least 237, 000 Singapore dollars (189,600 U.S. dollars) cheated, while Paypal email scam cases rose from 4 cases to 35 cases, with at least 39, 000 Singapore dollars (31,200 U.S. dollars) cheated.

Apart from e-commerce scams, the number of Internet love scams rose from 22 cases to 82 cases, with at least 3.1 million Singapore dollars (2.48 million U.S. dollars) cheated.

The police also highlighted cyber extortion, serious hurt and rape as key crime concerns.

There were 132 cases of cyber extortion, compared with 38 cases in the first half of last year. The number of rape cases rose from 61 to 91, while the number of serious hurt cases rose from 247 to 260.

The police said that unlicensed moneylending and harassment cases dropped by 31.6 percent year on year to 3,235 cases in the first half of this year.

"The tough laws ... coupled with the concerted effort by the police and strong community support, have enabled us to continue to make good progress in tackling the loansharking problem in Singapore," said Florence Chua, deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Department, assistant commissioner of police.

Singapore has had one of the lowest crime rates among the major cities worldwide.