China arrests 52 Singaporeans in Guangxi pyramid scheme crackdown

The detentions come amid a broader push by Beijing to curb illicit financial schemes and cross-border fraud networks Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Singapore Police Force revealed the arrests in a joint statement on Friday, noting that Chinese authorities were still investigating the cases. Sim Ann, Singapore’s second minister for foreign affairs, said consular officers from the country’s embassy in Beijing and its consulate in Guangzhou had visited all 52 detainees to check on their well-being, help with administrative matters and relay messages between the detainees and their families. Sim, who is also the second minister for home affairs, has met relatives of most of the detainees to offer support during what she called an “understandably difficult time”. While officials did not give details of the operations involved, multilevel marketing scams have repeatedly been targeted in police crackdowns in Guangxi. These include the long-running “1040 Sunshine” scheme, which dupes people into paying 69,800 yuan (US$10,390) on the false promise of a 10.4 million yuan return. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on police crackdowns targeting the scam as early as 2014.

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