Illegal fundraising and pyramid scheme cases up 29 pct in Guangdong in 1st half

A senior police officer in Guangdong province has pledged to spare no effort in fighting illegal fundraising and pyramid schemes in the province, one of China's economic powerhouses.

Wu Wuqiang, deputy director of the Guangdong provincial Department of Public Security's Economic Criminal Investigation Bureau, said police across the province detained 1,342 suspects after investigating 748 cases of illegal fundraising and pyramid sales in the first half of the year. The number of suspects detained was up 17.1 percent year-on-year and cases rose 29 percent.

"Meanwhile, police have frozen assets valued at more than 18 billion yuan ($2.77 billion) after investigating and cracking down on illegal fundraising and pyramid scheme cases," Wu told a news conference in Guangzhou, Guangdong's provincial capital, on Thursday.

"Illegal fundraising and pyramid schemes have not only put local residents' property at risk but also damaged and destroyed the normal financial operation of Guangdong province, and police across the province should not relax their vigilance in the fight against the financial crimes," he said.

He hinted more special campaigns would be launched to fight them in the months ahead, further contributing to security and economic prosperity.

Police from Wu's bureau and the cities of Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhuhai and Zhongshan, detained 147 suspects, including two suspected gang leaders surnamed Liu and Yang, after busting a major pyramid scheme gang during a special operation launched on June 7.

The gang was found to have set up more than 10 companies to illegally sell cosmetics through pyramid sales in Guangdong, Beijing, and the provinces of Jiangsu and Hainan, building up a sales network of more than 1.2 million representatives across the country.

The amount of money involved in the case was more than 1.5 billion yuan.