A gang of 11 fraudsters -- eight from Taiwan and three from the mainland -- have been given prison sentences of up to 13 years for cheating people out of their money by sending hoax mobile phone text messages in Jiangxi Province.

The Nanchang Intermediate People's Court heard that the group, headed by a Taiwanese man surnamed Lau, had cheated 12 people in the cities of Nanchang, Shanghai, Wuxi, Nanjing and Suzhou of over 600,000 yuan (US$75,000) from September 5, 2005 to January 10, 2006.

The gang sent text messages to their victims, telling them that their bank card and pin number information had been made public. Posing as bank employees, they persuaded their prey to transfer the money from their accounts to their own.

Lau was sentenced to 13 years in jail with a fine of 100,000 yuan (US$12,500), while the rest were sent to prison for one and a half years to 11 years.

Another Taiwanese man, only known by a nickname of "Song Dong", is still at large. He was responsible for buying the mobile phones and message-sending outfits.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2007)