BEIJING - Chinese police have cracked down more than 90,000 economic crimes since 2017, recovering losses of 100 billion yuan ($15.8 billion), the Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday.

The ministry launched extensive an crackdown on illegal fundraising, pyramid selling and underground banking, among other economic crimes.

In one of the 10 major cases made public by the ministry, police in Central China's Henan province arrested 172 members of Shanxinhui, a Shenzhen-based company suspected of organizing and leading a pyramid scheme.

Shanxinhui allegedly enticed people to take part in pyramid selling by promising "high returns" and cheated them out of huge amounts of property. Its mastermind Zhang Tianming is suspected of obtaining illegal gains of more than 2.2 billion yuan.

The ministry vowed to keep a firm hand on economic crimes to protect the market economy and financial security, urging the people to raise their legal awareness.