Four held for multi-million dollar Hong Kong pyramid selling scam
( 2002-02-20 14:15 ) (7 )

Four people were Wednesday charged in a fraud case involving 30 million Hong Kong dollars (US3.9 million dollars), accused of conspiracy to defraud and promoting a pyramid selling scheme.

The three men and a woman, aged between 25 and 35, were arrested nearly a year ago, after 13 people complained to police they had failed to get back investments made in a company, police said.

A police probe showed that between August 2000 and March 2001, more than 3,000 people were induced to join 14 different investment schemes offered by the unidentified company, headed by the four suspects.

The schemes offered excessively high returns to attract housewives, the elderly and domestic helpers.

Victims paid out sums ranging from 2,680 to 96,480 dollars and were promised cash returns of between 43,070 to 2,111,980 dollars or even unlimited returns for the rest of their lives.

They were also awarded bonus points for introducing new members to the scheme.

However, police enquiries revealed the schemes were not genuine.