Seven sentenced in high-profile telecom fraud case in China

An east China court on Wednesday sentenced seven people to prison terms for involvement in a telecom fraud case that led to the death of a teenager last year.

Chen Wenhui was handed a life sentence by the Intermediate People's Court of Linyi City, Shandong Province, for fraud and violation of personal information. The court also ordered to confiscate all his personal assets, and deprived him of his political rights for life.

The sentences for his accomplices range from three to 15 years, according to the court.

Xu Yuyu

Xu Yuyu, a senior high school graduate from Linyi, died of cardiac arrest in August 2016 after losing 9,900 yuan (1,440 U.S. dollars), which she was supposed to use to pay her university tuition fees, to the fraudsters.

Police detained more than 19,300 telecom fraud suspects in 2016.