Beijing 

Wearing surgical masks to cover their faces, dozens of people demonstrated outside a branch office of China’s central bank in the landlocked province of Henan early this month to demand their savings back.

They’re among thousands of depositors in China that protesters say are still campaigning for compensation after last year’s rural banking scandal saw their accounts frozen.

“America’s Silicon Valley Bank customers got their money back in three days. But China’s Henan village banks’ customers haven’t been given a cent in a year,” they wrote on white banners and posters held up during the demonstration.

China’s latest banking scandal started last April, when five rural banks, four in Henan and one in the eastern province of Anhui, froze depositor funds. Sanlian Lifeweek, a state-owned magazine, estimated that 400,000 customers were affected.

One of them, who asked to be identified only by the surname Du, says he put his entire family’s savings, worth about 5 million yuan or $726,000, into one of the banks.

CNN is not revealing the identities of the bank victims in order to protect their safety. They say all they want is their money back but their requests have been ignored. Some say they’re being tracked, harassed or physically attacked by local officials.

“I live by begging from others or receiving donations,” he told CNN. “If I can’t get the money soon, then my children and I can only live on the streets, without a house or a home.”

Last summer, hundreds of depositors took to the streets in a series of demonstrations to demand answers. Du says he and other protesters were badly beaten before they were eventually allowed to leave.

Weeks after the peaceful demonstrations were violently crushed by local officials, the provincial authorities in Henan blamed the scandal on financial fraud, arrested more than 200 suspects and promised to pay depositors back.

China’s banking regulator pinned the crisis on “unscrupulous shareholders” at several banks, along with third party platforms and brokers.

More failures?

While the majority of depositors received their money back over the past year, an estimated “several thousand” still haven’t received anything, according to protesters.

“People like us have been robbed of money, yet we are treated like criminals,” Du said.