A Zambian court has sentenced 22 Chinese nationals to long prison terms for cybercrimes, ranging from internet fraud to online scams targeting Zambians and other nationals from Singapore, Peru and the United Arab Emirates.
The Magistrates Court in Lusaka, handed down sentence terms between seven to 11 years and also issued fines between $1,500 and $3,000 after they pleaded guilty to charges of computer-related misrepresentation, identity fraud and illegally operating a network or service. A Cameroonian also was sentenced and fined for the same changes.
They were among a group of 77 people, apprehended in April over what police described as a “sophisticated internet fraud syndicate.” Most of them were Zambians.
The Head of the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), Nason Banda, disclosed that his commission began investigations after authorities observed a surge in the frequency of cyber-related fraud cases across the country and how people often reported how money had simply vanished from their accounts.
In a combined security effort, officers from the DEC, police, immigration department and the anti-terrorism unit in April launched a raid on the Chinese-run business named Golden Top Support Services, located in the upmarket suburb of Lusaka, arresting the 77, including those sentenced Friday.
Authorities recovered over 13,000 local and foreign mobile phone SIM cards, two firearms and 78 rounds of ammunition during the raid.
The business had reportedly employed oblivious Zambians aged between 20 and 25 to use the SIM cards to engage in what the authorities described as “deceptive conversations with unsuspecting mobile users across various platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, chat rooms and others, using scripted dialogues,” Banda said in April after the raid.