Chinese people, under enormous social pressure for economic success, have never dreamed of easy money as much as they do today.

It does not hurt much just to dream. The real problem arises when the dreamer is lured to traps that promise quick money.

Officials with the Ministry of Public Security revealed yesterday that criminal cases featuring such schemes as pyramid selling and illegal fundraising have been growing in recent years. During the first 10 months of this year, such cases increased by about 10 per cent over the same period of last year. These cases involved tens of billions of yuan.

The fantasy projects come in all shapes and sizes from ant farms and fake stocks to selling schemes and high-tech building materials.

But the root cause is the same: People's desire for a quick, big return. With this casino mentality, they are easily mesmerized by swindlers and will happily give them their money only to find, after days or months, that the profits and, in fact, the principal, will never come back.

The problem needs special attention because many of the cheated people are among the most vulnerable of our society farmers, retirees and the unemployed. These cheated people see their life savings vanish overnight.

It is heartening to see that public security authorities have noticed the severity of the problem and are set to step up their efforts to crack down on these fraudulent activities and to educate people about the tricks.

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