SHENZHEN police have arrested 44 people and closed 10 companies involved in underground online currency and gold futures speculation.
The illegal trades totaled 1.8 billion yuan (US$269 million) and 1,000 investors had been involved, police said Tuesday.
The companies acted as agents for domestic institutions and individuals to help them invest in overseas gold futures. They rented offices at upmarket buildings and claimed they worked with overseas institutions, providing services in gold trading.
They hired inexperienced people to promote gold trading through phone calls and seminars. They promised high returns, concealed high risks and demanded investors deposit money in designated accounts and charged high commission for each trade.
Police said such high-risk speculation was not protected by law and investors could conduct real gold trading through domestic commercial banks, or invest in gold futures through the Shanghai Gold Futures Exchange.
(Han Ximin)
