A local court in north China handed down a seven-year prison term for two men who pretended to be journalists and blackmailed a coal company, according to a press release from the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publication on Friday.

Wang Zhihong and Wei Xiangqian were found guilty of extorting 300,000 yuan (47,000 U.S. dollars) from the Xinyuan Coalification Co. in Lingshi County of Shanxi Province after publishing a false story about the company on several websites in April 2010.

The story was a revision based on a previous report that criticized the company. Wang and Wei promised to remove the story from the Internet and if the company paid them 530,000 yuan, the office said, citing the police investigation.

The company called police after the two men demanded more money after being paid 300,000 yuan. They were arrested after police discovered their press IDs were forged.