BEIJING, CHINA - Dozens of professors of several well-known universities have been swindled out of over 73,000 yuan (S$14,571) by a gang of criminals who are on trial in Haidian district People's Court, Beijing Times reported.

Zhang Li (alias), a professor of Peking University who won the China Excellent Course Award years ago, received an e-mail in 2008 from an employee of "Yongdeshun development company of science and technology", claiming he had the chance to publish and spread his courses on various mainstream educational newspapers like China Education Daily and Science and Technology Daily with expenses ranging from thousands to 80,000 yuan.

Zhang paid 20,000 yuan to a specified address but found he had been cheated 15 days later after the deal fell through.

The company duped dozens of professors of Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing Technology and Business University, Shangdong Qufu Normal University, and Shanghai Tongji University, making 73,800 yuan.

However, the professors chose to keep their loss a secret until a member of the company was arrested exposing the fraud.