22 Chinese nationals sentenced to long prison terms in Zambia for multinational cybercrime

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — A Zambian court on Friday sentenced 22 Chinese nationals to long prison terms for cybercrimes including Internet fraud and online scams targeting Zambians and others from Singapore, Peru and the United Arab Emirates.

The magistrate's court in the capital, Lusaka, sentenced them to between seven and 11 years. The court also fined them between $1,500 and $3,000 after they pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of computer-related misrepresentation, identity fraud and illegal network operation or a service. A Cameroonian was also convicted and fined for the same changes.

They were among a group of 77 people, mostly Zambians, arrested in April for what police described as a “sophisticated internet fraud syndicate.”

Anti-drug commission director general Nason Banda said the investigations began after authorities noticed an increase in cases of cybersecurity fraud and many people complained of losing inexplicably money in their cell phone or bank account.

Officers from the commission, police, the immigration department and the anti-terrorism unit raided a Chinese-run business in an upscale Lusaka suburb in April, arresting all 77 people, including those convicted on Friday . Authorities recovered more than 13,000 local and foreign mobile phone SIM cards, two firearms and 78 rounds of ammunition during the raid.

The company, named Golden Top Support Services, had employed “unsuspecting” Zambians aged between 20 and 25 to use SIM cards to engage in “deceptive conversations with unsuspecting mobile users on various platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, chat rooms and the like, using scripted dialogues,” Banda said in April after the raid. The residents were released on bail.