Surge in illegal fundraising cases and amounts in 2014

Illegal fundraising hit a record high in China last year, especially in terms of the number of cases, the amount of capital and the population involved, at the same time as the nation was facing growth pressures amid an economic downturn.

In 2014, the police filed more than 8,700 illegal fund raising cases involving over 100 billion yuan ($16 billion). Both numbers increased sharply from a year earlier.

During the first two months of the year, such cases filed by the police reached more than 2,200 and the amount of money involved exceeded 34.6 billion yuan.