LONGGANG District People’s Court sentenced two criminal ring leaders to 11 years in prison for fraud and blackmail Monday, according to a report in Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.

The two ring leaders were also fined 200,000 yuan (US$28,660) each.

The criminal ring was based out of a Longgang car loan company named Shenzhen Huatang. Between December 2014 and November 2016, it set up two subsidiaries in Dongguan City and Futian District.

The companies claimed to offer rent-to-own cars as well as car loans that didn’t require the borrowers to pledge their vehicles or vehicle registration certificates. However, whenever victims came to the car loan companies, they would cheat them into signing receipts for the loans and confirmation or authorization letters to sell the pledged cars.

Then they would make the victims hand in their spare car keys and install GPS equipment in their vehicles. After the loan process was completed, they wouldn’t give contracts to the victims, except for notices or side agreements for loan payments.

Once, according to the companies’ standards, the victims failed to pay back the money on time or broke the contract, or whenever there was a problem with the GPS, the criminal ring would repossess the car without giving any notice. Afterwards, they would blackmail the victims, demanding they pay a penalty for breach of contract. If a victim refused to pay the fee, they would sell the vehicle.

The criminal ring was found to have committed eight cases of fraud and 11 cases of blackmail. Among the three companies, Shenzhen Huatang was in charge of the car loans, GPS installation and monitoring, dealing with loan disputes and towing cars.

According to the Longgang court, the criminal ring had committed multiple crimes and seriously disturbed social order. The 20 defendants, including the ring leaders, surnamed Cen and Wang, were sentenced to imprisonment lasting between 22 months and 11 years, with a total penalty of 630,000 yuan. They’re also required to return to the victims the money they had gained illegally, which amounts to 984,504 yuan.

(Lin Lin)