POLICE have detained 404 people suspected of being involved in investment scams from 24 companies, while 15 suspects still at large are wanted by the police, the Shenzhen Evening News reported Thursday.

    A victim, surnamed Zhou, lost over 6 million yuan (US$871,738) after he was advised by an online friend to invest in silver by opening an account in a Shenzhen investment company. Luohu police raided the company’s offices Feb. 17 and detained 16 suspects.

    According to the police, the company’s agents and sales associates solicited investors by pretending to be rich and pretty women or professional financial experts. They won the trust of their victims by arranging so-called “tutors” to assist the victims in making investments on the company’s platform, the News said.

    The Luohu District People’s Procuratorate approved the arrest of 11 suspects from the company March 24, according to the report.

    A citywide operation was launched by police to crack down on illegal futures trading companies and agents in January. A total of 404 suspects from 24 companies were held under criminal detention and 115 suspects were arrested.

    Fifteen fugitives, most of them chairmen or executives of these companies, remain wanted by the police. Residents are encouraged to tip off the police on the fugitives’ whereabouts, and those who provide useful clues or assist the police in detaining the suspects will be offered rewards.

    According to a police officer, Li Chaoye, there are only four legal futures trading centers approved by the authorities in China, including Shanghai Futures Exchange, Dalian Commodity Exchange, Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange and China Financial Futures Exchange.

    (Zhang Yang)