Two Taiwanese men have been sentenced to two years in jail each after they staged a fake kidnapping from a Cambodian seaside resort and posted video of it online, a court said on Friday.
Chen Neng-chuan, 31, and Lu Tsu-hsien, 34, were arrested after they posted a video of themselves being detained and beaten up by security guards at a building in Sihanoukville on Facebook earlier this week, Preah Sihanouk provincial court said in a statement. “Both men had entered Cambodia to produce slanderous videos related to human trafficking, detention with torture, rape and selling human organs,” the court said.
The court found them guilty on charges of “incitement to cause chaos to social security” at a trial on Thursday, it said.
It sentenced them to two years in jail each and ordered them to pay a combined fine of about $2,000, the statement added.
The provincial government said the men produced videos with “fake content that affects the honour, order, and security” of the province. Extensive reporting by media has documented thousands of people – most Chinese, but some from Taiwan and other countries – lured to centres to operate online scams fleecing victims for large sums.
Taiwanese men Chen Neng-Chuan (centre left) and Lu Tsu-hsin stand with police during a press conference in Preah Sihanouk province, Cambodia, after they were arrested for streaming video of a fake kidnapping.
