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Russia has issued a pyramid scheme fraud alert for QNet.
According to a warning issued by the Central Bank of Russia on October 6, QNet exhibits “marks of a financial pyramid scheme.”
The CBR references “qnet.net”, “qnet.com.ru”, “qnet-official.ru”, and “qnetrussia.ru” in relation to QNet. The alert also includes the corporate address of QNet’s Hong Kong shell business.
We identified QNet as a pyramid scheme with a lengthy history of deceit.
QNet is managed by Vijay Eswaran from Malaysia (right). Eswaran conceals QNet’s operations through Hong Kong-incorporated shell corporations.
QNet has been subject to regulatory action in India, Cote d’Ivoire, Afghanistan, and Bhutan, outside of Bhutan.
In Africa, QNet is also connected to the troubling habit of recruiting hostages.
QNet promoters kidnap victims and force them to recruit new QNet associates as hostages. Human trafficking and immigration fraud are intimately associated with the activity.
Recruitment of QNet hostages has mostly been a problem in Ghana and Liberia.
Local authorities in Ghana have been combating QNet’s recruitment of hostages for years. However, QNet has the support of the local government, making it impossible to regulate the pyramid scam.
As a result, Ghanaian citizens have taken the law into their own hands.
SimilarWeb currently identifies India (26%), Pakistan (11%), Australia (8%), Turkey (8%), and Russia (5%) as the leading sources of website traffic for QNet.
Vietnam was the second highest traffic source to QNet’s website in August. At least for the time being, QNet’s recruitment efforts in Vietnam appear to have ceased.
Despite decades of QNet defrauding consumers, Southeast Asian authorities have failed to take action against Eswaran.
