Stricter sanctions for multi-level marketing

Crossfi website advertises a virtual currency called MPX (Photo: Internet).

Under the guise of getting rich quick, scammers continue to “use” the multi-level model to organize disguised sales seminars, illegally raise capital, and entice participants to invest in virtual stock exchanges and cryptocurrencies of unknown origin. Many people have lost tens, even hundreds of millions of dong, only to find themselves caught up in a closed “spider web” of fraud, with no chance of recovering the lost money. According to statistics from authorities, investment fraud is the most sophisticated form of online fraud today, with the amount of money collected from victims reaching thousands of billions of dong.

Typically, in February 2025, Hanoi City Police arrested 8 leaders of a transnational criminal group that defrauded investors in virtual currency, seizing assets of 500 billion VND. In this case, the largest victim was defrauded of 13 billion VND. It is known that through the Crossfi website, the group created a virtual currency called MPX to mine XFI coins (listed on the exchange). The subjects advertised that the virtual currency XFI would be used for consumption and payment in place of Vietnamese Dong. This criminal group trained customer service staff to make phone calls and organize conferences to lure victims to appropriate money by buying self-created virtual currency. Many victims continued to lure and entice many relatives to participate to receive commissions, so the number of victims involved was very large.

Also in February 2025, in Thanh Hoa , Nhu Xuan District Police arrested 9 subjects in a fraud and money laundering ring through the Fnory.com foreign exchange trading floor. This is a stock exchange established by the group and advertised itself as a British exchange, earning high profits to attract victims to invest and place orders to buy and sell listed securities on the floor. The group divided the profits from the victims into many accounts or spent them to buy villas and luxury cars. The total value of illegal transactions was about 200 billion VND.

According to the Department of Competition and Consumer Protection ( Ministry of Industry and Trade ), up to now, the whole country has only more than 20 enterprises qualified to operate multi-level, a sharp decrease compared to the number of hundreds of enterprises a decade ago. In Thanh Hoa, there are currently 15 enterprises licensed to operate under the multi-level method. These are all units with full legal documents, fulfilling reporting and monitoring obligations according to regulations. However, according to records from functional agencies, besides units operating in accordance with regulations, there are still many organizations disguised as this model to attract people to participate in illegal activities such as selling poor quality goods, non-transparent financial investment, and capital mobilization in the style of "taking money from later people to pay for earlier people".

In order to tighten management and protect people from the complicated developments of disguised multi-level activities, on April 10, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Official Dispatch No. 2624/BCT-CT notifying the direction of the Minister of Industry and Trade on strengthening inspection and supervision of multi-level business activities nationwide. Accordingly, the Department of Industry and Trade of provinces and cities is required to proactively coordinate with the police force, market management and relevant agencies to detect and strictly handle violations, especially acts of organizing seminars and conferences disguised as sales or financial mobilization.

Notably, the document also requested to review and evaluate all operating multi-level businesses, resolutely suspend operations or revoke licenses for businesses that violate the law; at the same time, it requested the judicial agency to study and propose criminalizing fraudulent acts through disguised multi-level forms. This is a strong move, demonstrating the determination of the management agency in cleaning up the business environment and protecting the legitimate rights of the people.

However, the incidents that have occurred show that criminals operate very sophisticatedly, with knowledge and skills in using high technology. Therefore, in addition to the drastic participation of the authorities, it is necessary for the people to be alert and proactive in prevention.

Tung Lam

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/che-tai-nghiem-khac-hon-cho-da-cap-bien-tuong-246339.htm