Lishui (CNS) -- The Qingtian Court held a public trial recently on the notorious fraud of 227 local residents who were eager to find a job abroad.
The suspect Wu Baolin, who is uneducated, was sentenced to twelve years of imprisonment and fined 200,000 yuan on top of the legal costs incurred by the case.
According to the investigation, Wu has scammed 197 people so far and swindled 821,500 yuan.
From May of 2009 to March of 2011, Wu claimed that he had the contacts of some 40 European businessmen and could offer well-paid jobs to the locals who intended to make money in Europe.
He also employed two middlemen, surnamed Guo and Sun, promising a rather high intermediary fee to them of 10,000 per recruit.
"Applicants" were required to pay 2,000 to 10,000 yuan depending on their country of destination.
Guo brought in over 80 people, and Sun introduced 60 more. The tempting offers created a snowball effect so that some of the applicants brought their friends and relatives to Wu. Yet no one has ever gotten their dreamed wonderland of fortune.
