QNet has come under fire in India, following an investigation into unpaid commissions owed to more than 200,000 affiliates.

For those unfamiliar with QNet’s business model, the company sells a variety of products.

These products are supposed to be sold to a mix of retail customers and recruited affiliate downline, however more often than not the retail side of the business.

For their part QNet do nothing to encourage retail sales and turns a blind-eye to affiliate autoship recruitment.

Based on data collected via investigations that began in 2010, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has warned QNet’s business opportunity

totally unfair and a potential threat to national security as they are mostly run by overseas operators and State as well as Central government employees, directly or indirectly, through their family members.

These persons are from Defence services and Ministries especially.

QNet is operated out of Malaysia by Vijar Eswaran (right).

The company operates internationally through a series of shell companies.

In India QNet is run through two primary shell companies; Goldquest International Private Limited and Questnet Enterprises India Private Limited.

The (SFIO’s) report … added that the pyramidal scheme was clear violation of the Prize Act, where the numbers of victims increase geometrically as time passes.

The involvement of local politicians and their families provides insight into why QNet investigations have continued to drag on.

The SFIO’s latest report follows the revelation that of Rs. 8.06 billion in sales generated by over 200,000 QNet affiliates ($112.9 million USD), only 50,000 affiliates were paid.

Outstanding commissions owed to the rest of the Indian QNet affiliate-base remain unaccounted for.

To date Indian authorities have received 172 complaints from QNet victims, prompting the SFIO investigation.

An earlier report by Telegana Today states that authorities have managed to recover Rs. 2.4 billion from QNet and several other product-based pyramid schemes.

How much of the Rs. 2.4 billion ($34.2 million USD) was recovered specifically from QNet scammers however is unclear.

The SFIO claims ‘thousands of such schemes were rampant across the country as was discovered during the investigation.’

The regulator has called for a multi-disciplinary team to be set up, with the aim of suggesting ‘actions in time to tackle such nefarious schemes‘.

This, along with a massive awareness campaign about the product based pyramid schemes preferably through a dedicated website coupled with publicity through print and electronic media, only can put an end to such illegal schemes running in this country and also mitigate a potential threat to national security, the report said.

Personally I think as long as members of the Indian government are profiting of promotion of QNet, it’s unlikely anybody of significance is going to be held accountable.

If the SFIO want to seriously tackle QNet and other product-based pyramid schemes, they need to round up the ringleaders and book them.