The Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (CCAA) has identified Global E-Commerce as a pyramid scheme which promises attractive commissions and gifts based on initial investments. Many individuals who have invested between Nu 600,000 and Nu 2 M reported feeling deceived with no way to take action against the promoters. As a result, several Bhutanese have been unable to recover their money for nearly a year. The authority urges the public to avoid participating in such schemes.
The Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority has found similarities between Global E-Commerce and the banned Q-Net scheme.
The CCAA said that more than 1,000 people in the country, including some from overseas, are involved in the scheme.
Their investigations revealed that the scheme involves multiple phases. Mentors and upliners lure new members by promising commissions, discounted products such as jewellery and branded clothing and commissions from sales on their online shopping platform.
These promoters, referred to as ‘business partners, ’ also offer health insurance and paid travel packages to foreign countries such as Malaysia as part of the membership incentives.
To join, new members have to sign a dependent agreement and communicate through Zoom calls and a Whatsapp group called Global E-commerce.
After investing, they are assigned a foreign mentor who guides them through their goals and introduces them to the Q-Net portal, where they learn to sell products and recruit others.
Many now regret their involvement.
“About 14 days later, we realised this was a scam because we were taught how to deceive others. A month later, the CCAA issued a public warning about Q-Net and Ponzi schemes. I told my friend I no longer wanted to be part of this business and wanted my money back, but I was informed that it would be impossible to get my money back unless I continued to work. Now, almost a year later, I still haven’t received any clear response on WhatsApp,” said one of the victims.
“I invested around Nu 600,000 at the beginning of this year, and it’s been about nine months now, I wish the government would take stronger action against those recruiting new members instead of just issuing warnings. It seems that despite repeated notices, people continue these activities,” added another victim.
He added that the official group name was changed to ‘Beyond Infinity’. After making complaints and refusing to comply with their demands, as well as requesting a refund, he was removed from the group chat.
Meanwhile, the CCAA shared that schemes like Global E-Commerce or Q-Net may operate under different names. The office added that while they can report misleading promoters to the relevant authorities, they cannot directly intervene in such businesses without verification that they are fraudulent pyramid schemes.
As of today, the CCAA has banned 14 such schemes in the country.
The CCAA advises people to engage only with registered and legitimate businesses before spending money and to be cautious of those who do not openly disclose their information.
Sonam Dendup
Edited by Sonam Pem
