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Police bust pyramid scheme in northwest China

Xinhua, November 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Police in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region have busted a massive pyramid scheme in a case worth more than 2 million dollars.

Police with the Public Security Bureau of Lingwu City found several suspects from the central Henan Province engaging in a cross-province pyramid scheme earlier this year, with the scheme's "senior leaders" operating in Henan and its "middle managers" recruiting new participants in Lingwu and Yinchuan, the regional capital.

The scammers swindled money out of family members or friends in the name of a national development program or "pure capital operations", and promised them lucrative returns.

The bureau launched a joint crackdown with police in Henan and detained 49 suspects, with more than 13 million yuan (2 million U.S. dollars) confiscated or frozen.

China has toughened its stance against pyramid schemes. Last year, a five-month campaign led to the bust of 1,446 pyramid schemes, involving 3.7 billion yuan. Endi