85 punished over cross-border telecom fraud

BEIJING -- A Beijing court Thursday gave sentences to 85 fraudsters in a cross-border telecom fraud case, ranging from 21 months to 15 years in prison.

According to the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court, over 70 of the offenders were extradited from Kenya in April 2016, including 44 residents of Taiwan.

The court said the suspects had pretended to work for courier services, health insurance bureaus, police and procuratorate authorities, to falsely tell victims they were suspected of crimes due to leaked personal information, persuading them to transfer money or make others do so from appointed accounts

The fraudsters pleaded guilty to cheating 185 victims out of a total of more than 29 million yuan ($4.3 million).