Hundreds arrested in China pyramid scheme crackdown

NANNING - Police in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region said they have arrested 368 people involved in pyramid schemes.

Police in Nanning, the regional capital, broke up six pyramid scheme organizations whose members were from northeast China, Shandong and Zhejiang provinces, said the Nanning Public Security Bureau on Monday.

More than 1.5 billion yuan (225 million U.S. dollars) was involved. Police confiscated 57 vehicles, computers and bank cards used by the suspects.

In August, dozens of suspects have been caught in Henan, Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces.

China began a three-month campaign against pyramid selling on Aug 15,following the death of university graduate Li Wenxing, 23, who got involved in a pyramid scheme through an online recruitment site, and was found drowned in mid-July in north China's port city of Tianjin, sparking nationwide rage.