TWO Shenzhen companies recently swindled investors in burial slots out of an unspecified amount of money after offering to take the slots off their hands in exchange for a fee, local media reports said.

    The victims, who purchased burial slots from Tangjing Cemetery Development Co. Ltd. in 1996, about a year before investment in the slots became illegal, were desperate to get rid of them, and thus playing right into the hands of Shenzhen Zhongfa Investment Co. Ltd. and Shenzhen Dongjunda Trade Co. Ltd., according to media reports.

    Although Tangjing had refunded most of the buyers for their purchases in 1997, many investors are still believed to be holding on to the burial slots they purchased more than a decade ago in the hope of making great profits, Tuesday’s Daily Sunshine reported. The newspaper said most of the victims were from Shenzhen and Huizhou, but did not say how many people had been swindled.

    In one case, an unnamed 70-year-old Shenzhen man, who had purchased two burial slots for 40,000 yuan (US$5,714) each in 1997, received a call in October last year from an employee of Zhongfa surnamed Wang, offering to buy his burial slots for 215,000 yuan each. Wang asked him to wire 3 percent of the money, or 12,960 yuan, as commission.

    On Nov. 19 last year, Wang asked him to send another 15,000 yuan, and then asked for 8,000 yuan more in March. The senior, who willingly complied with these demands, became exasperated after Wang asked him for yet more money, and turned to the Daily Sunshine for help.

    The Shenzhen Municipal Industrial and Commercial Bureau confirmed that Zhongfa and Dongjunda were operating illegally.

    Under current Chinese law, it is illegal to sell burial slots, and those who wish to buy them must present three certificates, namely a cremation certificate, a death certificate and a cremation agreement signed by the deceased.

     (Jane Lai)