(Baonghean) - At the end of July 2015, through the hotline, Nghe An Newspaper received information from a young woman saying that because she trusted her friend too much, she participated in multi-level marketing, selling functional foods for New Star International Joint Stock Company in Hanoi. After a while, she realized that she had been deceived... Interested in this information, the reporter conducted a fact-finding investigation.
Open letter
One day after receiving information from the young woman mentioned above via the hotline, Nghe An Newspaper received an open letter from this woman. Her name is NVA, a teacher at an elementary school in Vinh City; She wrote: "On May 6, 2015, I was invited by my friend, Ms. VTV, a teacher at HL Primary School, and Mr. Nguyen Canh Hai (residing in Hung Loc). Here, Ms. VTV and Mr. Hai shared about participating in the functional food business for New Star International Joint Stock Company, headquartered in Hanoi. According to them, the company has 3 product packages including Gold, Silver and Bronze. If you buy any product package, you will receive 2 benefits. First, you will receive imported American functional food products commensurate with the money; second, you will be given a 12-digit ID number by the company to work as a sales person (invite people to buy the company's product packages) to receive commissions. Those who can afford it can buy the Gold package, if they don't have the means, they can buy the Bronze package. If you buy the Gold package, you only need to invite 2 more people to buy the corresponding package to receive commissions. 5 million dong
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| The functional food boxes are currently being kept by Ms. NVA. |
After hearing this, I did not hesitate to buy the Gold code product package worth 11,900,000 VND. Immediately after that, I was provided with an ID number and instructions to go to the company's website to log in to my personal page. A few days later, Mr. Nguyen Canh Hai informed me that the company was currently running a promotion, and the Gold code package was discounted up to 1 million VND. I calculated and saw that the profit was huge. So I secretly took the ID cards of my father, husband, mother-in-law, siblings, and even the maid to register to participate. The money to buy the product package was from my own money and additional loans. Ms. VTV was the one who received the money, then transferred it to the company through the money transfer system of the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. After participating, I only received 4 boxes of shark cartilage and 1 box of Omega 3, each worth 1,200,000 VND. The people I registered were also provided with ID numbers by the company but were not delivered the functional food products. However, I still believed it, because on my personal page, every time I invited 2 people to join, my commission increased dramatically. Until I invited 27 people to join, but the company did not pay for the functional food products, I started to worry because I would not only lose money but also lose my reputation with my relatives. When I asked, Mr. Nguyen Canh Hai delayed, making appointments for this day and that day. Occasionally, the company also sent goods, but the quantity was very small compared to the actual number of participants. Then I was informed that on June 31, the company would hold a gratitude ceremony to draw prizes for those who had purchased product packages from April to June 2015 (the winner would receive 37,000,000 VND). I went to Hanoi. At the hotel hall, I and everyone present competed to win the prize to receive the gratitude money. However, the company staff called on everyone to buy the product package to be in the prize draw. At this point, I and many people there had the same feeling that we were cheated. At this time, the people I invited to buy the product package were 27 people, the total purchase price of the product package was 240,000,000 VND; my commission was 56,800,000 VND.
The company stipulates that commissions will be paid on the 26th and 28th of every month. According to Mr. Hai, the company will pay on June 31st. However, on June 31st, the company did not pay me any commission. When I asked, they made an appointment for the next day. After waiting for another day, the company paid me 10,000,000 VND. After returning to Vinh and waiting for another 2 weeks, I received an additional 5,000,000 VND from the company. The remaining commission is 41,800,000 VND along with a batch of functional foods, the company is delaying the payment. Many people who participated in buying the product package were wondering, so even though I have young children and old parents, I had to go to Hanoi to return the ID code and request a withdrawal. When I arrived at the company, I met the head, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Lan, who assured me that he would pay the commission and the products, and advised me not to withdraw the code because I would receive gratitude. I agreed but waited for a long time but saw no change from the company. After waiting day and night, I had to return home. I asked a friend in Hanoi to come to the company to get it for me, but it was all for nothing. From then on, I contacted Mr. Nguyen Tuan Lan but he no longer answered the phone... I wrote this letter to Nghe An Newspaper, hoping to verify and clarify the deceitful business practices of New Star International Joint Stock Company, so that law enforcement agencies could intervene and force them to pay us; at the same time, warn gullible people to avoid being scammed by them... ".
Multi-level marketing contracts
Regarding the issue of functional foods, recently, the situation of counterfeit, fake, poor quality goods of unknown origin is rampant, so Ms. NVA's open letter is really worth paying attention to. The question is why a company in Hanoi offers such an "attractive" business model for individuals in Nghe An to participate? At Ms. NVA's house, there are still 4 boxes of functional foods Collagen Typell, Mega DHA, Slim X3. Checking the packaging surface, it was made in the US, however, only 2 boxes of Collagen Typell have import stamps, 2 boxes of Mega DHA and Xlim X3 do not. According to Ms. NVA, after buying the Gold code package, she should have been delivered about 10 boxes, however, she only received 4 of these boxes. And later, she found it too complicated so she did not use it, intending to return the code, but returned the product. Asked what knowledge she had about functional foods; and how can I tell the difference between real and fake products? Ms. NVA replied: “I am a teacher, thinking that buying health supplements will also give me more business opportunities, so I joined without any knowledge. According to the contract I signed, the company will train and equip me with knowledge, but I have invited 27 people but this has not been done yet... Is there any proof for what you said? "I still have my contract and 8 other people in my family..." - Ms. NVA replied.
It is true that Ms. NVA is holding 9 contracts with New Star International Joint Stock Company, and these are "Multi-level marketing contracts". According to the contract, New Star International Joint Stock Company is located at Hamlet 4, Van Hoi Village, Van Binh Commune, Thuong Tin District (Hanoi City); Transaction office at No. 29N7A, Nguyen Thi Thap Street, Nhan Chinh, Thanh Xuan (Hanoi). The company's representative is Mr. Nguyen Tuan Lan, General Director. After signing the contract, Ms. NVA is automatically a member of the company's multi-level marketing network. The contract content has 12 clauses including: Subjects participating in signing the contract; subjects of the contract; conditions for signing the contract; products, origin, specifications, uses, quality of the products; product prices; responsibilities of Party A; responsibilities of Party B; termination of the contract; repurchase of goods from multi-level marketing participants; dispute resolution; final clauses. In the contract, there is also a section "Commitment of multi-level marketing participants". In Article 3 of the contract (on the conditions for signing the contract), those who are "accepted" by New Star International Joint Stock Company to sign the contract must follow the correct order: be a person who wishes to sign a contract under the multi-level marketing method; attend and complete the basic training course on multi-level marketing of the company; be granted a basic training certificate by Party A; be granted a membership card of the company's multi-level marketing network. And from there, start participating in multi-level marketing!.
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| Ms. NVA talked with reporters about participating in multi-level marketing for New Star International Joint Stock Company. |
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| Ms. NVA and the functional food boxes. |
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| Website of New Star International Corporation. |
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| Part of Ms. NVA's "line" on the website of New Star International Corporation. |
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| 4 boxes of functional foods that Ms. NVA is currently keeping. |
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| Letter from Ms. NVA to Nghe An Newspaper. |
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| Multi-level marketing contract between New Star International Joint Stock Company and Ms. NVA |
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Functional foods are products that affect human health, are conditionally traded products. Through the certification of the product boxes that Ms. NVA kept, we found that the functional foods of New Star International Joint Stock Company have problems in their business; in addition, the signing of multi-level sales staff contracts is too haphazard. Therefore, we quickly contacted the Chief Inspector of Nghe An Department of Industry and Trade, Mr. Nguyen Trong Luong, by phone to get information about the units and organizations operating multi-level sales in the area. Mr. Nguyen Trong Luong said that this was the first time he heard the name of New Star International Joint Stock Company and affirmed that according to regulations, when operating in any locality, all units organizing multi-level sales activities must register with the Department of Industry and Trade of that locality for management and supervision. In Nghe An, up to now, there are 12 companies registered for multi-level sales activities, however, the name of New Star International Joint Stock Company is not included...
(To be continued)
Nhat Lan - Viet Long
