A young husband and wife, who claim they only charged 10 yuan ($1.6) to help migrant workers buy train tickets home for Spring Festival, face up to three years in prison after being busted with 212 tickets worth 35,402 yuan.

Police are calling it the largest scalping case in Guangdong Province so far this year and comes just days before the peak travel season begins when tens of millions of people start packing the country's trains, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

The Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily reported that a man surnamed Zhong, 25, started to help computer illiterate migrant workers navigate the railway's ticketing website in November. Zhong used the workers' ID cards to purchase tickets in their name, charging 10 yuan for his service.

As more migrants sought Zhong's help, his wife, surnamed Ye, 23, was also recruited to make online purchases.

Railway police from the city of Zhaoqing discovered the couple's illegal business on January 9.

Two computers used to book the tickets were confiscated, while the 212 tickets and the 10-yuan surcharge were returned to the workers.

Train ticket scalping is illegal in China. The railway police said on their Sina Weibo Monday that the couple was arrested on criminal charges, which could bring a sentence of up to three years and a fine of up to five times the total value of the tickets.

The couple's ticketing service is considered serious because it involved more than 5,000 yuan.

Some experts say it's unfair to label the couple scalpers. "They acted as a purchasing agent. In this sense, the criminal charge does not apply to them," Mao Lixin, a criminal lawyer from the Beijing Shangquan Law Firm, told the Global Times.

Mao said since the country implemented the real-name policy for ticket purchases, there has been little room for scalpers. "The only real problem is that the workers' personal information might be leaked," he added.