Spanish court allows extradition of 93 Chinese in fraud scam

MADRID – Spain’s National Court has agreed to extradite 93 Chinese citizens following a crackdown on Spain-based gangs that allegedly swindled people in China out of millions of euros by telephone.

The decision Friday followed the court’s decision last week to extradite to China 121 Taiwanese citizens accused of belonging to the gangs.

Interpol told Spain about the alleged racket a year ago, and Spain and China worked together to arrest 269 people.

Officials say gang members made contact with people in China, pretending at first they were friends or family and warning them of fraud scams. In later calls, they allegedly pretended to be police investigating the scams and convinced many victims to put money into bank accounts run by the gangs.

The extradition decision can be appealed.