The Coimbatore police detained Sakthi Anandan, the founder of My V3 Ads, an online Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) company, and 200 of his supporters on Saturday, February 10. Sakthi and his followers wanted to meet the Coimbatore Police Commissioner to give a complaint asking for action against those allegedly spreading false information about his company.
MY V3 ADS is a platform that offers people money for watching ads on YouTube channels. However, people have to pay the company to become a member of this business. As per reports, there are several categories to become a member of this business. The membership ranges from Rs 360 to Rs 21,000. The company promised a person would earn money between Rs 5 to Rs 1800 per day by watching YouTube ads. MY V3 ADS has more than 50 lakh subscribers and it also sells home appliances, health and beauty care products.
In January, a complaint was lodged against Sakthi Anandan alleging that his company sells Ayurvedic products to people without any proper medical prescription. The complainant also alleged that MY V3 Ads was misleading people by telling them they could earn money by watching videos in the app, after they purchase a membership. However, Sakthi refuted the allegations. He claimed that people were spreading false allegations to bring disrepute to his company. It is to be noted that on January 30, thousands of people gathered in Coimbatore and urged the police department to withdraw the complaint registered against the company.
On February 10, he along with investors visited the Coimbatore Police Commissioner's Office to file a petition. Since they could not meet the commissioner, Sakthi and group staged a sit-in protest, insisting on a meeting.
Though police personnel urged them to disperse, the group refused to leave the office. Later, police detained all of them. Before Sakthi was detained, he told the media that the allegations were baseless and that they would soon approach district collectorates with complaints.
MLM is a strategy where companies incentivise existing customers or distributors to recruit new members, forming a layered network. While this can appear like a mutually beneficial system, MLM has often morphed into pyramid schemes and in many cases, companies have vanished into thin air after raking in significant sums through initial sign-up fees. The ethicality of such schemes has often been questioned.
Watch: MY V3 ADS: Case registered against MLM company in Coimbatore, investors protest