A fraudster was sentenced to death with two years' reprieve Tuesday, for swindling millions of yuan from over 300 people, according to a spokesman with the Nanchang People's Intermediate Court in east China's Jiangxi Province.

The court investigation showed that Huang Xingjian, a Guangdong-based company director, established a "fruit company" in 2002 called "Junlinguoye". But apples and oranges were not on the menu at Junlinguoye. Instead the company employed smooth-talking young men and began to target affluent, middle-aged and old people with bogus investment schemes.

The victims were invited to activities such as croquet matches, where company staff collected their telephone numbers.

Company salesmen then called them and persuaded them to put their money into two fake investments, promising an eight percent return.

The company illegally raised almost 12 million yuan (about 1.55 million U.S. dollars) from 326 people in Guangdong, Jiangxi and Guangxi, most of whom were over 50 years old and relatively rich.

The fruit company staff and managers were all in on the scam, and Huang got the largest share of more than 30 percent.

Police arrested Huang Xingjian in Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province in November 2005.

Source: Xinhua