Authorities in Vietnam have busted the Bitney MLM scheme, which is claimed to have had almost 200,000 promoters.
In addition to operating as a pyramid scheme, Bitney also marketed a juice laced with erectile disfunction medication.
Bitney launched in Vietnam back in 2019. Worse still Bitney’s “toxic substance” juice was made with undeclared Tadalafil (generic Cialis).
Even worse than that, Vietnamese authorities have known about Bitney’s Tadalafil-laced juice since at least 2022.
From a
May 24th report from Vietnam Net
;
In 2022 and 2023, Ho Chi Minh City’s Food Safety Management Board tested Bitney Multi Juice at the National Institute for Food Safety Testing and the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang.
The results showed the product contained Tadalafil, a prescription-only drug banned from use in food production. The compound is typically used to treat erectile dysfunction and must only be administered under medical supervision.
Why nothing was done until now is unclear.
Authorities began investigating after cybercrime officers detected signs of exaggerated claims about health benefits made by a suspicious supplement network operating online.
On May 14, police arrested four individuals for violating regulations related to multilevel sales methods.
Two key figures identified as the ringleaders were Tat Van Hao, 48, residing in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, and Lim Choon Foong (also known as Nick Lim), 43, a Malaysian national residing in District 6, HCMC.
Police have seized nearly VND 2 billion (about USD 78,000), three cars, 15 mobile phones, seven laptops, and 41,800 boxes of Multi Juice.
Bitney victims, 107,348 of which are Vietnamese residents, are reported to have lost “trillions of dong”. For reference, one trillion dong comes to around $38.5 million USD.
Vietnamese authorities have been turning a blind-eye to MLM related fraud for years. Perhaps the best example of this is OneCoin:
Vietnamese authorities
announce a OneCoin investigation
in 2016;
OneCoin’s Vietnamese regulatory authorization documents were confirmed forged in 2017;
a Vietnamese OneCoin scammer was
arrested in Thailand
in 2019;
OneCoin claims its moved its headquarters from Bulgaria to Vietnam around 2022, and apparently this is fine.
Former OneCoin promoter Simon Le has also been
running amok in Vietnam promoting MLM Ponzi after Ponzi
without consequence.
Things might be turning a corner though. Vietnam’s Bitney bust follows
Ame Global
a few days ago.
Lang Son Provincial Police have dismantled a massive multi-level marketing (MLM) network operating across Vietnam and internationally, arresting 12 suspects and seizing a large quantity of equipment and materials related to the scheme.
Ignoring fraud hasn’t paid off, and now evidently MLM crime in Vietnam is too big to ignore. Whether this is a long-term correction or temporary enforcement though remains to be seen.
🤖 Quick Answer
What is the Bitney MLM scheme busted in Vietnam?Bitney was a multi-level marketing operation launched in Vietnam in 2019 that authorities dismantled after identifying it as a pyramid scheme. The company reportedly amassed nearly 200,000 promoters before Vietnamese law enforcement intervened and shut down its operations.
What illegal substance was found in Bitney Multi Juice?
Laboratory testing conducted by Ho Chi Minh City's Food Safety Management Board, the National Institute for Food Safety Testing, and the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang confirmed that Bitney Multi Juice contained undeclared Tadalafil, a prescription-only erectile dysfunction medication marketed under the brand name Cialis.
When did Vietnamese authorities first discover Tadalafil in Bitney products?
Vietnamese authorities first identified the presence of Tadalafil in Bitney Multi Juice
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