Chinese Protesters Claim $1.2 Million Lost in Scam

BEIJING —  Investors who claim to have been cheated out of more than a million dollars in a land fraud deal protested here Monday.

Several dozen Beijing residents gathered near the U.S. Embassy to demand that the U.S. government take action against a firm they say defrauded them of about $1.21 million on bogus land sales in Florida.

The group accuses Income Investment Properties of fraud and is demanding compensation.

Chinese citizens appear increasingly willing to defy the government’s ban on unauthorized protests to express their anger over money lost in alleged scams.

Investors who said they lost money to a group of investment companies shut down by authorities in May protested for five hours Sunday in Zhengzhou, local police said.