A man who swindled his victims of millions of yuan by selling fake university enrollment notifications has been charged with fraud in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province.

The man surnamed Sun, who is chairman of the board of a local company, allegedly counterfeited more than 200 letters of notification and swindled 7.9 million yuan (US$ 1.01 million).

The procurators said Sun downloaded logos and photos of the Shanghai University of Finance & Economics and the Shandong University of Technology from the Internet, engraved their seals and printed 200 fake letters of notification of each university in July 2005.

To allay his victims' suspicions, Sun pretended to be the deputy mayor of Tianshui city in northwest China's Gansu Province. He claimed to have influence over enrollment quotas.

Sun sold 89 faked letters of notification from the Shanghai college for 60,000 to 90,000 yuan each (US$ 7,600 to 11,500), and 120 letters from Shandong college for 40,000 to 50,000 yuan (US$ 5,100 to 6,400) each.

Fourteen students from Shangqiu city of Henan Province were turned away by the Shanghai college when they tried to enroll with the fake notifications last September. They then reported the case to the local public security bureau.

Sun was caught by police in March this year.

University degrees have become a must for young people seeking a better life in China's increasingly competitive society.

Statistics from the education ministry show that 9.5 million students applied to enter college this year, but only 2.6 million were admitted - just one place for every four candidates.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2006)