Kingpins get death for 'most violent' scam farms

China on Tuesday handed out death sentences to three leading members of a criminal gang led by the Wei family, which carried out criminal activities, including telecom fraud and gambling, in Myanmar. Three others were sentenced to life imprisonment, while another 55 face jail terms ranging from three years and three months to 24 years, according to rulings made by the Intermediate People's Court of Quanzhou and people's court of Nan'an, both in Fujian. China has stepped up cooperation with Southeast Asian nations to crack down on a vast industry that has flourished in the region in recent years to fleece people out of billions of US dollars. Those conducting the online scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals – many Chinese – tricked themselves into work and held in prison-like compounds. The Quanzhou court said in a statement it had sentenced Wei Huairen, Chen Dawei, and Liao Jingfang to death for their involvement in the "Wei family criminal gang". The gang was involved in crimes including drug trafficking, organising prostitution, operating illegal casinos, telecommunications fraud, and the murder of at least two Chinese citizens, it said. Wei Huairen was identified as one of the group's leaders and found guilty of...