As many as 183 people have been arrested in south China over charges of running illegal fundraising under a pyramid-style scheme involving USD 114 million after police conducted a massive raid.
Nearly 500 police officers in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region raided 66 locations in the provinces of Henan and Guangdong, and Guangxi, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.
183 'criminal suspects' of the gang were arrested during the raids.
Under the disguise of western region development, the gang organised "one-day" trips to Qinzhou, Nanning, Beihai and Fangchenggang cities in Guangxi and coaxed their victims into investing, the report quoted the Public Security Bureau of Qinzhou City as saying yesterday.
The pyramid-style scheme involved 3,000 people and 760 million yuan (USD 114 million), according to the bureau.
Twenty-five senior gang members were among those arrested and the group's bank accounts, which contained more than 10 million yuan, were frozen.
Eight luxury cars were also seized and a probe is on.
