THREE people running a peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending website have turned themselves in to Sungang police in Futian District, Shenzhen, after users began demanding money the three couldn’t pay back.

    The website promised investors interest rates of up to 24 percent a year.

    They are being held for illegally raising 10 million yuan (US$1.56 million), police said.

    In 2014, two of the executives, surnamed Hu and Yu, registered two companies and a P2P lending platform.

    The website mainly facilitated second-hand car sales and let people take out loans with their cars as collateral.

    The platform put information of car owners online to attract investors, who would send money to Hu and Yu’s personal accounts. The company originally paid back the investors every month or every three months.

    At the beginning, the platform paid back interest at the required time, but it couldn’t honor the contracts after Shenzhen implemented a restriction on new car registration.

    Hu, Yu and another executive turned themselves in to the police after more than 20 investors demanded they pay back 3 million yuan.  (Han Ximin)