Ten men were sentenced to prison terms of up to two years by Zhejiang province's Songyang county court after being found guilty of defrauding more than 11,500 World of Warcraft accounts via online transactions, Zhejiang Online reports.

The instigator of the group, named Chen, organised a small workspace as a base of operations for his team to flip WoW accounts. Chen and group would purchase stolen WoW accounts for approximately $1 each, gut them and sell the account's the gold and gear for roughly $3 per account. An investigation found that the group had pilfered in excess of $10,800 in profit from more than 11,500 WoW accounts.

While the majority of the group were sentenced to under two years and fined around $1,000, Chen received two years in jail and fined $8,000. Hardware used for the group's nefarious activities and funds gained were confiscated by authorities.

Earlier this year, Zhejiang province resident Zou faced punishment after forging government documents to attempt regain access to his online account for MOBA game Dream Three Kingdoms Online.