Since China imposed a ban on fraudulent "pyramid selling" in 1998, the industry and commerce supervisory departments have cracked down on more than 16,000 such cases, China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce announced on Friday.

A total of 1.05 million people participating in pyramid schemes have been dispersed, and the once-rampant pyramid selling has been effectively contained, according to the administration.

In the seven years, industrial and commercial administration departments across the country have destroyed over 40,000 pyramid selling places, and handed over almost 1,000 cases to the police, with 3,700 people involved.

Pyramid selling activities are being carried out in a more covert manner, and in some regions, they are still rampant, the administration said.

The scam, also known as multi-level marketing, is a method of selling something through a hierarchical tier of salespeople. Promoted as a get-rich-quick scheme, it invariably leads to huge losses for those conned into participating.

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2005)