Gang members stand trial

Five chief members of an extortion gang stood trial at Jiading District People's Court on Wednesday for fraud, extortion and illegal detention.

The gang had committed many crimes since 2017, the court said. Another 10 members of the gang stood trial two days ago. The verdicts will be handed down later.

The two chief culprits, Dong and Tang, offered other members stable "wages" and a cut from their profits.

In late 2017, Dong and Tang schemed to make more money by taoludai  —  borrowers sign IOUs of higher amount and make fake bank transfer records via methods like transferring money to victims' accounts and asking the victims to withdraw the money and give it back to them. The members used the fake transfer records as "evidence" to force the victims to pay much more money than the amount they borrowed.

After the IOUs were signed, the gang members often took more money from the victims as late fees, deposits or service fees and kept their identity cards, property certificates or cars. Later, they forced the victims to pay the amount on the IOUs using harassment and violence such as illegal detention and attacks.