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China sentences 3 people to death for running scam centers

Photo: CBS News

A Chinese court sentenced three members of a criminal gang to death on Tuesday for operating a network of brutal scam centers in Myanmar's Kokang region on the border with China, while jailing dozens more.

China has stepped up cooperation with Southeast Asian nations to crack down on a vast industry that has flourished in the region in recent years to fleece people out of billions of dollars.

Those conducting the online scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals -- many Chinese -- tricked themselves into work and held in prison-like compounds.

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