Fake Chinese bank cheats depositers out of US$32m

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-01-24

A Chinese bank branch in Fuzhou, Fujian province, Jan. 23. (File photo/CNS)

A rural cooperative posing as a bank cheated 200 million yuan (US$32 million) out of unwitting depositors in an eastern Chinese city, local police said.

The fake bank ensnared more than 200 customers over the past year with promise of higher interest rates.

The scheme was unraveled only after a customer reported unusual activity to the police after being unable to make a withdrawal, according to police in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province.

Police say the cooperative had decorated itself exactly the same as a bank, with LED screens, a queuing machine and uniformed clerks. It also faked documents to prove itself as an authorized financial institute.

One legal representative cooperative and four "managers" have been detained on suspicion of illegally absorbing public money.

Most victims were businessmen from neighboring Zhejiang province. Police are still seeking victims of the scam.