Zambia Sentences 22 Chinese Nationals for Multinational Cyber fraud
A Zambian court has sentenced 22 Chinese nationals to long prison terms for cybercrimes that included internet fraud and online scams targeting Zambians as well as people from Singapore, Peru, and the United Arab Emirates.
On Friday, the Magistrates Court in the capital Lusaka handed down sentences ranging from 7 to 11 years to the Chinese nationals. The court also fined them 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 man from Cameroon was also sentenced and fined on the same charges.
The 22 were part of a group of 77 people, the majority of them Zambians, who were arrested in April over what police described as a “sophisticated internet fraud syndicate.”
Nason Banda, the director-general of Zambia’s drug enforcement commission, said the investigation began after authorities noticed a spike in cyber-related fraud cases and many people complained about unexpectedly losing money from their mobile phones or bank accounts.
In the April raid, officers from the commission, police, immigration department, and anti-terrorism unit swooped down on a Chinese-run business called Golden Top Support Services in an upscale Lusaka suburb and arrested the 77 suspects.
Authorities recovered over 13,000 local and foreign mobile phone SIM cards, two firearms, and 78 rounds of ammunition during the operation.
Banda said the business had employed “unsuspecting” young Zambians aged 20-25 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.”
The Zambian suspects were released on bail, while the 22 Chinese nationals were sentenced this week for their roles in the sophisticated cybercrime syndicate.
