Sources also said a group of attractive female salespeople helped Fanxin grow to a major life insurance broker. Founded in 2007, Fanxin claims to have sold more than 480 million yuan in insurance policies in 2012 alone.

"The Fanxin saleswomen may have no experience in the insurance sector, but most of them look like models," International Finance News quoted an unidentified source as saying.

"They were dressed in miniskirts when visiting customers, and the value of each of their insurance policies ranged from hundreds of thousands of yuan to more than 1 million yuan."