THE RINGLEADER BEHIND A TELEPHONE SCAM in Linyi, Shandong province, in which the young victim died of cardiac arrest last August, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Linyi Intermediate People's Court on Wednesday. The other six defendants received prison terms ranging from 3 to 15 years. People's Daily comments:

The heavy penalties demonstrate the firm resolve of the judicial authorities to punish those involved in telephone scams.

Xu Yuyu, a high school graduate in Linyi, died of cardiac arrest on Aug 21 last year after she was tricked into remitting 9,000 yuan ($1,331) to an account set up by the fraudsters.

Her family lives on her migrant worker father's income and the money had been saved over a year to pay for her first years' tuition and living costs at a key university in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

As many of the fraudsters including the culprits in the Xu Yuyu case are from several towns in Anxi county, Fujian province, the public security authorities should not only focus on investigating the cases that have already happened, but also take action to prevent young people in the county from becoming involved in the chicanery.

Although the Anxi police have launched special campaigns to deal with local gangs for 13 consecutive years, that has not stopped the county from becoming a national center of the dirty trade. That some of the county's inhabitants regard shell games as a way to make a living, not a crime, shows just how far China is from resolving the issue.

The higher authorities must take action as local efforts are not enough to put an end to the scams.