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Man's blog bares pyramid scheme
By Xu Chi |
September 27, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
POLICE are hunting for members of a pyramid scheme group in central China's Luoyang City after one of them sought help online, claiming that he had been imprisoned with more than 10 others at the group's base for 15 days.
With the man providing the base's location via his microblog, Luoyang police carried out a surprise raid on a suburban village yesterday morning, seizing more than 10 people at two hideouts. But the man who sought help is still missing while the police are hunting the other 40-plus members who fled.
The men caught in the operation were mostly aged 20 to 25, who were brought to the village from Yunnan and Hubei provinces after being "brainwashed to believe that they could earn a big fortune simply by bringing more members into the group," said Yao Pengge of the Beijing-based China Anti-pyramid Scheme Committee.
Yao, 26, was the first to volunteer to help the man after reading his microblog. He came to the village alone over the weekend and found that the village actually had several big hideouts for the pyramid scheme group.
Yao called police on Sunday evening and took part in yesterday's operation.
"Each member had to hand in 2,800 yuan (US$438) as membership fee to their boss to join the group, and their job was to bring more people into the group for a share in the fee income," said Yao. "Many people brought their fellow villagers, cheating them into believing that they could earn a big fortune without any effort - a typical pyramid scheme."
The members were told to sell a fake make-up product, but ironically none of them ever saw such a product at the base, but they still did not harbor any doubts, Yao said.
"The boss would hold all the newcomers, educating them 24/7 until they were totally brainwashed and convinced that they could earn money from it. The man seeking help was probably also brought here to be educated."
The man, nicknamed "gggf567," said on his microblog that he was brought to the village 15 days ago and had to pretend to be brainwashed to get his cell phone and send the microblog SOS.
The man said the group used a big black dog to guard the entrance of the hideout.
With the man providing the base's location via his microblog, Luoyang police carried out a surprise raid on a suburban village yesterday morning, seizing more than 10 people at two hideouts. But the man who sought help is still missing while the police are hunting the other 40-plus members who fled.
The men caught in the operation were mostly aged 20 to 25, who were brought to the village from Yunnan and Hubei provinces after being "brainwashed to believe that they could earn a big fortune simply by bringing more members into the group," said Yao Pengge of the Beijing-based China Anti-pyramid Scheme Committee.
Yao, 26, was the first to volunteer to help the man after reading his microblog. He came to the village alone over the weekend and found that the village actually had several big hideouts for the pyramid scheme group.
Yao called police on Sunday evening and took part in yesterday's operation.
"Each member had to hand in 2,800 yuan (US$438) as membership fee to their boss to join the group, and their job was to bring more people into the group for a share in the fee income," said Yao. "Many people brought their fellow villagers, cheating them into believing that they could earn a big fortune without any effort - a typical pyramid scheme."
The members were told to sell a fake make-up product, but ironically none of them ever saw such a product at the base, but they still did not harbor any doubts, Yao said.
"The boss would hold all the newcomers, educating them 24/7 until they were totally brainwashed and convinced that they could earn money from it. The man seeking help was probably also brought here to be educated."
The man, nicknamed "gggf567," said on his microblog that he was brought to the village 15 days ago and had to pretend to be brainwashed to get his cell phone and send the microblog SOS.
The man said the group used a big black dog to guard the entrance of the hideout.
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