Large-scale online fraud: Four more people executed in China
Just days after eleven people from a mafia family were executed in China for operating huge scam operations, further executions have followed.
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In China, four more people have been executed who had been convicted of various crimes and online fraud in connection with scam centers in Myanmar. This was made public by the state news agency Xinhua, which explained that the death sentences were carried out this time in the metropolis of Shenzhen. According to Associated Press, five members of a criminal gang had originally been sentenced to death in November. However, one person subsequently died of illness. Just last week, eleven people were executed in Wenzhou for similar offenses. The sentences are part of Beijing's more determined crackdown on scams and the criminal organizations responsible for them.
Harsh punishment meets with approval
The crimes of the now executed individuals “were exceptionally heinous, with particularly serious circumstances and consequences that posed an enormous danger to society,” AP quotes from the verdict. Specifically, they were found guilty of organizing fraud in large areas in northern Myanmar. According to reports, six Chinese citizens died there and others were injured, dpa adds. The convicted individuals also operated casinos, and one was additionally convicted of the production and trafficking of eleven tons of methamphetamine. In total, the convicted are said to have extorted the equivalent of 3.5 billion euros. The death penalty was justified by the severity of the offenses, and an appeal against it had failed.
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The criminal organizations that China is now cracking down on with great force have established large-scale fraud operations in Myanmar, where hundreds of thousands of people are forced to contact individuals worldwide via the internet and defraud them with various schemes. This takes place in huge facilities where people are held and sometimes mistreated. This is facilitated by the civil war that has been ongoing for years. However, Beijing has recently supported militias that are taking action against the scam centers. In China's social networks, the executions have now been welcomed, dpa reports. The fraud and kidnapping cases had attracted great attention there.
(mho)
