3 held in biggest pyramid sales scam

Beijing has cracked the biggest case of pyramid selling in recent years, the capital's public security bureau said on Friday.

Extensive Forest, a company promising to help people make big profits by planting trees, had raised about 1.6 billion yuan ($206 million) by fraudulent means from about 20,000 victims, mostly from Beijing, since 2004, the bureau said.

The scam involved nine people, and three of them, Zhao Pengyun, Zhao Daihong and Huang Jinhui, are in custody.