Free exchange:Stoneless rivers

摘要

Trusting investors can easily be gulled by scams designed to relieve them of their savings. In China efforts to educate the unwary extend to the streets. Walls are daubed with murals illustrating the dangers of Ponzi schemes, which pay off early investors with money raised from a larger group of later ones. In one cartoon a swindler, hugging a big pot of cash, sits atop a human pyramid, representing the Ponzi principle at work. The Ponzi principle has even tempted some of China's banks, according to a widely cited article in China Daily, an official newspaper. The article was notable because its author, Xiao Gang, is chairman of one of China's four big banks and may take over the central bank later in 2013.