VietNamNet Bridge - Calls for investing in bitcoin are numerous on the internet, with many ‘secret societies’ set up persuading people to deposit bitcoins.

Vietnamese rush to invest in bitcoin

When a reporter said she wanted to make money with bitcoin but did not understand the rules, a young man named Duc, a member of a secret society on Facebook, suggested that it would be better to authorize others to make the investment. 

Duc said his group of 10 members pool money to buy bitcoins on a ‘very well known’ foreign website. Anyone can contribute 0.1-10 bitcoins each. The current bitcoin price is VND300 million.

“With a 1.1 bitcoin package (VND330 million), you will receive an interest rate of 4 percent per day. As such, you will get back all your investment capital within 25 days and you will receive interest of 50 percent for the next 10 days. After that, you will continue receiving interest until an investment circle (50 days) finishes,” Duc said.

“The interest rate is up to 200 percent,” Duc explained.

During the investment time, depositors must not withdraw all the interest but have to reinvest 50 percent of the profit they receive. 

When a reporter asked if she could withdraw capital before maturity, Duc said: “If you invest 10 bitcoins with the interest rate of 4 percent per day and you want to withdraw the capital just after 10 days, you will receive only 40 percent of the investment capital. If you want to sell bitcoin by that time, I will buy at the market price.”

Calls for investing in bitcoin are numerous on the internet, with many ‘secret societies’ set up persuading people to deposit bitcoins.

Le Thanh Trung, 27, who has been a bitcoin investor for one year, said at first websites sold bitcoins and opened bank accounts for players, but later the websites set a new regulation that new players must be introduced by old members to be able to join.

The older members will receive commission equal to 20 percent of the total money invested by new members. In addition, they will receive another 10 percent of commission if the new members can bring other new members.

“The interest will be transferred to investors’ accounts, $3-10 per day, within 150-300 days,” Trung said. 

On his Facebook, an investor with the nickname DVT said he had joined a project called Bitconnect for one year and now has $3.5 million, or VND85 billion. T said he received VND2.5 billion just after 100 days of investing in Bitconnect. 

Lan Anh, 31, in district 3, HCMC, said she has introduced two clients to a bitcoin investment trading floor in Thailand. 

She invested one bitcoin on the trading floor for two weeks and has earned enough money to buy one more bitcoin, which means an interest rate of 100 percent.