BEIJING -- Chinese police in the cities of Hefei, Wuhan and Chengdu have arrested more than 300 suspects for a number of contract fraud cases involving more than 10 million yuan ($1.59 million), the Ministry of Public Security announced on Friday.

Police in the three cities busted 13 groups and over 40 companies suspected of contract fraud crimes, and closed 90 illegal sites for such crimes in the past few weeks, the ministry said in a statement.

The actions are part a campaign that police launched at the start of March to crack down on economic crime.

Contract fraud involves intentional misrepresentation to deceive the victims into entering into contracts.

In most of the cases, the suspects persuaded the victims to become their franchised outlets or producing contractors, took the victims' money as "equipment fees" or "training fees" and refused to repurchase the products as they previously promised.