This story's a bit tangled. Between 2020 and 2022, Zhang and Yan set up a sizable online scam operation in Dubai, with around a hundred people involved. It was organized like a small company, with departments for HR, operations, finance, and admin. They lured young folks to Dubai with promises of "free meals, accommodation, and high overseas salaries."
Their scams were the usual suspects: romance cons, fake investment returns, and bogus gambling sites. They even had fake websites and a finance team managing the dirty money and payroll. But in 2022, things went south when info leaked, and the group scattered, with many heading back home.
By 2023, the police had nabbed 74 people, and by 2026, they caught 11 more, totaling 85 arrests. The first batch of 74 was prosecuted in 2025, with sentences handed out in July. The ringleaders got seven and a half years, while others received between one to three years. The second group of 11, considered accomplices, got slightly shorter sentences in 2026. Everyone pleaded guilty, so there were no appeals, and the verdicts stood.
