The minimum sentence for telecommunication fraud is up to three years in prison and the maximum is life imprisonment.
According to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China:
Article 266? Fraudulent public or private property, the larger amount, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of less than three years, detention or control, and or a single fine; the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of more than three years to less than ten years, and a fine; the amount is particularly huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of more than ten years or life imprisonment and a fine or confiscation of property. Where this Law provides otherwise, it shall do so in accordance with the provisions.
According to the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on the Interpretation of Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Fraud":
Article 1 If the value of the fraudulent public or private property is more than 3,000 to 10,000 yuan, more than 30,000 to 100,000 yuan, or more than 500,000 yuan, the fraudulent property shall be recognized as the " larger amount", "huge amount", "especially huge amount".
Second Article: Where the fraud of public or private property reaches the amount standard stipulated in Article 1 of this Interpretation, and the fraud is committed against an unspecified majority of people by sending text messages, making phone calls, or utilizing the Internet, radio and television broadcasts, newspapers and magazines to disseminate false information, the punishment may be made more severe as appropriate in accordance with Article 266 of the Criminal Law.
Expanded Information
Case:
In Lingao County, Hainan Province, the use of "phishing sites" by criminals to implement telecom fraud, resulting in 490 victims fell into the trap of telecom fraud. The case was examined by the Procuratorate of the Yangpu Economic Development Zone in Hainan Province and prosecuted in court, and after the first-instance verdict on August 26, 2018, the defendants, including Chen Chaoda, filed an appeal against the verdict.
In February 2016, a telecom fraud case occurred in Lingao County using a phishing website to cheat others out of their money, involving more than a million yuan and as many as 490 victims. The Hainan Provincial Public Security Bureau designated Yangpu police to solve the case in one fell swoop, and eight people involved were caught.
Police investigations confirmed that from December 2015, Chen Chaoda, Chen Chaowen through the search to add the QQ group way to find the sale of "phishing site" Hou Xiaowei, Xixi Section. The two brothers from Hou Xiaowei, Xi Xike, at a price ranging from 200 yuan to 500 yuan, repeatedly purchased "phishing sites" containing fake China Construction Bank web pages and other content.
After buying the "phishing site", Chen Chaoda brothers began to edit the "phishing site" related links, has edited the false China Construction Bank points exchange and China Mobile phone bill recharge fraud SMS link. Then, they advertised in the QQ group looking for "pseudo-base station" machines and equipment "partners", entrusted them to send fraudulent text messages.
On August 26, 2018, the court of first instance sentenced Chen Chaoda, Chen Chaowen, and seven other defendants to fourteen to three years' imprisonment and four years' probation for the crime of fraud; and imposed a fine of 400,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan, respectively. For the crime of helping to destroy evidence, Chen Xiaofang was sentenced to two years of imprisonment. Recently, the Second Intermediate Court of Hainan Province, after hearing the case, made a final ruling rejecting the appeal and upholding the original sentence.
Chinacourt.com - Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
Baidu Encyclopedia - Interpretation by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate of a number of issues concerning the specific application of the law in dealing with criminal cases of fraud
People's Daily Online - Telecommunications fraud become a tumor of society? Phishing site "fishing" millions