In the sweep, provincial authorities demolished 394 places for illegal pyramid sales, checked out 19,271 salesmen, seized 160 activity leaders, detained 553 people, closed down eight accounts and withdrew five business licenses.

There are more than 26,000 pyramid sales members from other provinces, and 10,827 are willing to return to their hometowns, with 5,973 people being shipped off by the local government.

According to the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, there is a sharp difference between pyramid-sales in Hainan now and those found before.

The criminals seldom sold products, but mainly tried to find new members. Some companies made profits by manipulating the illegal pyramid-sales. As a result, the pyramid-sales have changed into a swindling crime, said an official.

(Eastday.com 04/18/2001)