Huang Zhibo, a 22-year-old trainee of a Chinese entertainment group, was sentenced to three years and three months in prison and fined 10,000 yuan ($1,424) for fraud during the epidemic on March 17.

On January 30, Huang advertised non-existent face masks during a shortage brought about by the novel coronavirus outbreak. He won a buyer's trust by using false personal information and pictures of surgical masks and production licenses downloaded from the Internet.

After securing a payment of 117,000 yuan ($16,700), he blocked the victim and cut off contact without delivering the product. On February 5, Huang was arrested and brought to justice.

After an investigation, it emerged that Huang lied about selling masks to defraud others of 280,000 yuan ($39,600).

Huang became popular after appearing on an online audition program in 2019. His contract with the entertainment group has since been terminated.