Museum investment turns sour after interest dries up
By Wang Qingchu |
February 23, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AROUND 300 people in Shenzhen of Guangdong Province lost more than 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) to a group offering high returns for an investment in what it described as one of China's largest private museums.
An organization claiming to be the Shenzhen office of Dagong Museum in Shandong Province's Laiwu City launched a promotional campaign in May 2010, Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday.
It described the museum as housing over 50,000 historic items and its curator as a renowned collector.
The group said it was raising money to start a second phase of construction and offered a 25 percent return on investments.
The Futian District People's Procuratorate said most of the people who had chosen to invest were elderly.
It said the mastermind behind the fraudulent scheme, surnamed Wang, had been arrested. Other members are still at large.
An investigation found that Dagong Museum was, in fact, small and poorly run and didn't have permanent premises, let alone valuable antiques.
Around 51 percent of the money collected was used to explore business opportunities while the rest was used to pay interest to early investors. But the scheme was exposed after some investors didn't receive their promised returns.
One investor, a 55-year-old woman surnamed Lin, said she initially got 1,200 yuan a month in interest but when payments stopped in December she went to the Shenzhen office, only to find it empty.
An organization claiming to be the Shenzhen office of Dagong Museum in Shandong Province's Laiwu City launched a promotional campaign in May 2010, Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday.
It described the museum as housing over 50,000 historic items and its curator as a renowned collector.
The group said it was raising money to start a second phase of construction and offered a 25 percent return on investments.
The Futian District People's Procuratorate said most of the people who had chosen to invest were elderly.
It said the mastermind behind the fraudulent scheme, surnamed Wang, had been arrested. Other members are still at large.
An investigation found that Dagong Museum was, in fact, small and poorly run and didn't have permanent premises, let alone valuable antiques.
Around 51 percent of the money collected was used to explore business opportunities while the rest was used to pay interest to early investors. But the scheme was exposed after some investors didn't receive their promised returns.
One investor, a 55-year-old woman surnamed Lin, said she initially got 1,200 yuan a month in interest but when payments stopped in December she went to the Shenzhen office, only to find it empty.
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