China executes mafia family that duped internet users into fake romances
Eleven members of a crime family, which lured people online into fake romances and swindled them for cryptocurrency ‘investments’ have been executed by the Chinese government.
The head of the Ming family, Ming Xuechang, took his own life to avoid being brought to justice along with his family members.
Targeting mainly Chinese speakers from their Myanmar-based scam centres, the family would defraud people around the world, and six Chinese nationals died in the process.
Members of the family faced charges in Chinese courts ranging from homicide to fraud and illegal gambling operations.
The entire mafia-esque operation collapsed in 2023, when the family were arrested in Myanmar and taken to China to face justice.
Throughout their operation, they brought in more than £1,000,000,000 each year, beginning in 2015.
In addition to the eleven family members who were executed, more than 20 others have been jailed.
Part of their crimes included kidnapping and forcing people to run scams online.
The court heard that within the compounds where the scams were operated, beatings and torture were common.
The Ming family were part of one of four clans running Laukkaing, a small town in Myanmar close to the border with China, who turned it into a hub for criminal activity.
Since 2015, the town has been used as a base for telecommunication fraud, illegal casinos, drug trafficking, and prosecution.
Laukkaing’s illegal casinos were set up to take advantage of China’s demand for gambling, which is illegal there and in many neighbouring countries.
But the casinos evolved into a front for money laundering, trafficking, and dozens of scam centres.
The local police force, meanwhile, was also under the control of the Ming family, acting as little more than a private militia enforcing their rule.
The court found that the Ming family and other criminal groups were responsible for the deaths of several workers. In one incident, a number of workers were shot to stop them from returning to China.
Some of the family members confessed to their crimes in court and appeared remorseful, but their strong sentences are likely demonstrating China’s determination to end the scam businesses along its borders.
The executions come on the same day Sir Keir Starmer met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in hopes of resetting the relationship between the two countries.
Starmer told Xi he wanted a ‘more sophisticated’ relationship with China at the start of the meeting, which ran for an hour and 20 minutes.
Sir Keir arrived alongside a delegation of 54 representatives of British businesses and cultural institutions looking to deepen ties with the country.
The Prime Minister also raised ‘areas of concern’ during the talks, Downing Street said, including the wrongful detention of British citizen Jimmy Lai.
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