A national campaign to prevent students being duped in pyramid-selling schemes has been launched by China's educational, public security and industrial and commercial regulatory authorities.

"Students from time to time are trapped in pyramid-selling scams and to keep campus clean of pyramid selling is an important task," the People's Daily quoted Zhong Youping, deputy director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, as saying.

Earlier this year several pyramid-selling organizations were found to have ensnared more than 100 college students in Guangdong and Hunan provinces.

Last year, Chinese police uncovered a case of pyramid selling which involved more than 500,000 people in 20 cities and provinces. One of the ringleaders was a 30-year-old post-doctoral student.

The departments have agreed to issue early warnings regularly to colleges and universities and improve monitoring and investigative efforts on illegal selling activities.

Asked how long the campaign would continue, the education department said it was not able to comment as the relevant officials were at a meeting. The public security department and the industrial and commercial departments did not answer Xinhua's calls.

Pyramid selling, which involves one salesperson recruiting other sales people, was banned in 1998. Authorities said such a scheme had "become a synonym for cheating and hoodwinking in China."

People found guilty of organizing and running pyramid schemes face prison terms of five years or more and can be ordered to repay up to five times the profits generated by their illegal business operations.

In 2006, China investigated 2,081 cases involving more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.34 billion).

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2007)