Massive digital currency pyramid scheme busted in east China

HEFEI, May 17 (Xinhua) -- China's local police have busted a massive digital currency pyramid scheme involving around 2,000 people and over 200 million yuan (about 31.1 million U.S. dollars).

In January, the local police in Anqing, east China's Anhui Province, received tips that since 2016 an investment platform had been conducting a pyramid scheme using so-called digital currency as bait.

Exploiting popular fintech concepts, the platform tricked people into purchasing the digital currency, whose database and market value were manipulated by its organizer, with about 2,000 members recruited from 12 provinces and cities, said the local police.

So far eight main suspects in the case have been transferred to the judicial authority for prosecution.

In recent years, there has been a surge in similar cases under the guise of blockchain and digital financing, with their tricks becoming more sophisticated and the participants younger, according to the local police.

Zheng Wenbao, an official with Anhui's market regulation authority, said that addressing the new challenge requires coordinated efforts from cyberspace, public security, finance and communications authorities to monitor and control the illicit schemes, as well as publicity efforts to raise the public awareness.