Phone scam lured victims with promise of jackpot

Ten defendants stood trial in a telephone fraud case in Shaoguan, Guangdong province, on Sept 4.

According to prosecutors, the defendants — a Malaysian, four Taiwan residents, two from Sichuan province, two from Jiangxi province and one from Fujian province — had been swindling people in Malaysian since March 2010 with a telephone scam.

“You are the lucky prize winner in a lottery worth HK$500,000 dollars ($65,000), but you have to pay 5,850 ringgits ($1,892) for insurance and necessary certificates and documents to receive the prize,” they would say, according to prosecutors.

The defendants allegedly netted 24 million yuan ($3.8 million) with the scam from May 2010 to September 2011

Police closed down the operation in September 2011.

The court did not hand down a verdict on Sept 4.