The Beijing High People's Court on Wednesday upheld an original judgment against 85 defendants convicted of fraud.

On Dec 21, the capital's No 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced 85 people for telecom fraud after they were caught by the Ministry of Public Security from Kenya in April last year. Among them, 44 were Taiwan residents, according to a statement from the high people's court.

In the original judgment, Zhang Kaimin and Lin Jinde were sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud, while the other 83 defendants were given sentences ranging between 21 months and 14 years for the same charge, the statement said. Sixty-six of them appealed to the higher court.

"After we reviewed facts of the cross-border telecom fraud, the defendants' behaviors and their potential harm to society, we thought the conviction and penalties given to them are reasonable, so we agreed to uphold the original ruling with clear facts and sufficient evidence," the higher court said in the statement.

According to the ruling, the 85 people pretended to work for courier services, health insurance bureaus, police and prosecuting authorities and falsely told victims they were suspected of crimes due to leaked personal information. They persuaded them to transfer money or make others do so from appointed accounts.

The fraudsters pleaded guilty to cheating 185 victims of a total of more than 29 million yuan ($4.3 million), it added.