A Zambian court has sentenced 22 Chinese nationals for cybercrimes that included computer fraud and online scams targeting Zambians and others from Singapore, Peru, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Magistrates Court in the capital, Lusaka, sentenced them to prison terms ranging from 7 to 11 years.
Following their guilty plea to accusations of identity fraud, computer-related deception, and illegally operating a network or service on Wednesday, the court additionally fined them between $1,500 and $3,000.
A man from Cameroon also received a prison sentence and fine on the same changes.
They were part of a group of 77 people, the majority of them Zambians, arrested in April over what police described as a “sophisticated internet fraud syndicate.”
Nason Banda, Director-General of the Drug Enforcement Commission, said investigations began after authorities saw an increase in the number of cyber-related fraud cases and many people complained about unexplained losses from their mobile phones or bank accounts.
In April, officers from the commission, police, the immigration department, and the anti-terrorism unit raided a Chinese-run firm in an upscale area of Lusaka, arresting 77 people, including those jailed on Friday.
During the raid, authorities seized almost 13,000 SIM cards for local and foreign mobile phones, two weapons, and 78 rounds of ammunition.
The business, named Golden Top Support Services, had employed “unsuspecting” Zambians aged between 20 and 25 to use the SIM cards to engage “in 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.
The locals were freed on bail.
