Police in east China's Anhui Province are hunting Internet users who wrote an online hoax story alleging a woman teacher seduced and raped 900 boys in three years.

Though police didn't specify whether they have located them, they said the posts originated from outside Anhui, the Legal Daily has reported.

The investigation was launched after Hefei No.42 High School called police because the widely circulated post severely marred its reputation, the newspaper said.

Monday's post on online forum Tianya.cn claimed that the school's English teacher Kong Feiyan had seduced 900 boys and raped them when giving extra classes. It remained a secret until a victim complained to his parents, the post said.

The school swiftly dismissed the allegation, saying that there never was a teacher of that name there. Even the Hefei city government had to back up the denials.

But the story revived when someone claiming to be Kong opened blogs in many popular communities. However, she said there were 100 victims rather than 900 and the boys were not raped, but acted voluntarily.

However, the blogger turned out to be a fake who stole the identity from an online game player.