QNet
The most persistent pyramid scheme in Bhutan's history. Banned twice — as GoldQuest in 2003 and as QNet in 2022 — it continues operating under aliases like "E-commerce," "Bi Global," and "Beyond Infiniti." Victims include students, workers in Australia, and civil servants.
The scheme Bhutan has banned twice and still cannot stop
QNet is the most persistent pyramid scheme in Bhutan's recent history. The Royal Monetary Authority banned its predecessor, GoldQuest, in 2003. The Office of Consumer Protection, now the Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority, banned QNet itself in August 2022. Despite both bans, the scheme has continued to operate in Bhutan under at least three new aliases: "E-commerce," "Bi Global," and "Beyond Infiniti." Victims continue to come forward.
How it started
QNet was founded in 1998 in Hong Kong by Vijay Eswaran and Joseph Bismark, originally under the name QuestNet. The early business sold gold and silver commemorative coins at heavily inflated prices through a multi-level marketing structure. Entry into the network required purchasing through an existing member's referral ID, which placed the new member into a recruitment hierarchy where commissions flowed upward.
The product catalogue eventually expanded to include health supplements, wellness devices, watches, jewellery, and "education" courses. The product mix changed. The mechanics did not. Members continued to make money primarily by recruiting new members beneath them, not by genuinely selling products to retail customers.
QNet entered Bhutan first as GoldQuest in the early 2000s. The RMA declared it a pyramid scheme in 2003 and prohibited it. It returned in the late 2010s as QNet, operated in Bhutan by Vihaan Direct Selling Pvt. Ltd. of India, and was again declared a pyramid scheme and banned by the Office of Consumer Protection in August 2022.
The 2022 ban has been substantially ignored. By April 2025, the CCAA was still receiving fresh complaints. Bhutanese victims, many of them students and workers in Australia, some of them civil servants in Bhutan, have lost amounts ranging from AUD 12,000 per individual to Nu 170,000 to Nu 87,000. One Australian-based Bhutanese student described paying over AUD 12,000 to join, recovering only about AUD 4,000, and having her bank flag the transaction as fraudulent in the process.
The recruitment is run through close personal relationships. Family members recruit family members. The 21-day "IIP induction course" instructs new members to list one thousand names divided into a "hot zone" (immediate family), a "warm zone" (cousins and relatives), and a "cold zone" (distant friends), and to work through them systematically. Victims have described feeling unable to leave because they had already recruited their own people, and walking away would mean admitting the scheme was a scheme, both to themselves and to the family members they had brought in.
What to watch for next time
QNet's distinguishing feature is the social pressure architecture. Three specific things would have helped recognise it.
First, any "business opportunity" that asks you to list your personal contacts in concentric circles of trust and then work outward through them is not a business. It is a recruitment operation using your relationships as inventory. Legitimate businesses do not require their employees to monetise their family tree.
Second, the products sold by QNet — wellness devices, "energy" pendants, vitamin supplements priced far above retail — were not the income source for any member. The income came from recruitment commissions. When the only people who buy the product are the new recruits themselves, the product exists to legitimize the recruitment, not the other way around.
Third, the legitimacy theatre is heavy. QNet promotes seminars attended by "high-profile Bhutanese individuals" whose presence is used to imply institutional approval. Their presence does not constitute approval. In several documented cases, those individuals were themselves senior members of the recruitment pyramid and benefited financially from drawing in new participants. Position does not equal verification.
A note for those already affected
QNet victims in Bhutan have organised informally on social media, and a growing number are sharing their stories publicly to discourage further recruitment. Complaints can be filed with the CCAA, which has continued to receive and investigate cases. For victims abroad, particularly in Australia, local consumer protection authorities are an additional avenue. Recovery from QNet specifically is rare. Documentation, however, contributes to the case for stronger enforcement.
Sources: Kuensel, The Bhutanese, Office of Consumer Protection of Bhutan, BehindMLM, Wikipedia.
Red Flags
- Banned in Bhutan twice (2003, 2022) — now operating under aliases like "Bi Global" and "Beyond Infiniti"
- 21-day IIP induction course instructs recruits to systematically target family and friends
- Products (wellness devices, "energy" pendants) priced far above retail and bought almost exclusively by new recruits
- Income derived from recruiting others, not genuine product sales
- Seminars with prominent Bhutanese figures used to imply official approval
- Victims describe social pressure preventing exit once they have recruited family members
What to do if you were affected
File a complaint with the Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (CCAA). If you are based in Australia, contact the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) as well. Document all payments, chat records, and the identity of whoever recruited you. QNet victims in Bhutan are connecting on social media — sharing your experience publicly helps warn others.