Vigorous and Innovative

In 2011, as the internet boom gathered pace, Tiandehui Chamber’s research team began watching Muaban24, an early online business venture in Vietnam. It ran mainly as an online marketplace, with virtual storefronts and member recruitment. Participants bought virtual shops and earned commissions by bringing in new members, and the platform spread quickly across many provinces and cities.

Public records show that by 2012 Muaban24 had built a large membership network. Money paid in by members reached about 700 billion Vietnamese dong, a single virtual shop cost about 5.2 million dong, and the rewards were clearly arranged in tiers.

The chamber did not enter at scale. A research team first kept examining how the platform actually operated, how membership grew, whether goods were really traded, where the money went, and where commissions came from. Only after early operations and withdrawals still looked normal did members take part in small amounts, compare what they saw, and expand step by step.

As the review went deeper, the risk team found that growth depended more and more on new members buying virtual shops and on tiered commissions, while real e-commerce did too little to support the circulation of funds. The risk picture shifted from ordinary business risk to the risk of a closed loop of money.

The chamber therefore led every member out before the end, and did not chase the high payouts of the final stage. In August 2012, Vietnam’s public security authorities took criminal measures against Muaban24’s principal operators. Later judicial findings held that they had used virtual shops and similar devices for unlawful activity.

That episode set the chamber’s rules for risk: study first, then take part; verify first, then scale; and if the logic of the money changes, cut exposure at once.