Chinese authorities have broken up a cross-boundaries prostitution ring which used social media services and highly strict protocols to run its business.

A total of 349 people were arrested and more than 32 millions yuan ($1 million) was seized from the gang in Shenzhen, the southern of China, according to Xinhua News Agency.  

After graduating from technical secondary school, Li Lang, a 32-year-old Chinese national born in Shangcha, the most populous city in central China’s Hunan Province, successfully ran a family-education company. To get the money as soon as possible, he started pimping out girls between Dongguan, a city in South China’s Guangdong Province, and Hong Kong.

Li and his friend, Liu, then registered another technology company, the main business of which is information technology consulting, software development and the construction of e-commerce platform.  

Covered by the company, Li and Liu developed several apps within WeChat’s platform allowing them to better-run brothels in Malaysia.

According to a public statement by Shenzhen police, the gang conducted its business via WeChat, one of China’s biggest social media platforms, between China and Malaysia.

The authorities noticed the gang since September 2017 when the Ministry of Public Security ordered the Shenzhen police to investigate a group of people sending Chinese women to Malaysia to work as prostitutes. During the three-month-long investigation, the police identified two alleged ringleaders whose surnames are Li and Liu, respectively.

Presidents of the company operated the gang and distributed the income based on the shareholding ratio while assistants of the president were responsible for the internal affairs, including manipulation of money transfers from each platform, employment and pay off salaries. Meanwhile, there were also groups of people who established and maintained relationships with prostitutes, clients, and pimps. Also, several staff members enticed Malaysians to come to China and open bank accounts by inviting them to travel in Shangsha, which helped the gang to withdraw and transfer money, admitted Li after being arrested.

The gang had 9 criminal spots in Malaysia, each of which was made up by tens of people.

Li bought over 7 luxury apartments and cottages in 2017, according to CCTV News.

Evidence found from spots in Malaysia shows, the company also had a very strict protocol for each staff member, which even requires the time each person should get up in the morning, according to Xinhua News.

For higher profits, the company would promote prostitutes by writing clearly about their height and weight and making slogans for each of them.