Unveiling the Counterfeit Empire: How Fake Oil, Syrup, and Milk Producers Amassed a Staggering $4 Billion

Vietnamese authorities have recently made significant strides in their fight against large-scale counterfeiting and tax evasion syndicates, uncovering operations with revenues reaching thousands of billions of dong.

Big Holding’s Ecosystem Generated Approximately 4,000 Billion VND in 6 Years

A recent case involving the TikTok account owner “Gia đình Hải Sen” selling counterfeit products has brought to light the involvement of Bigfa Corporation in producing these fake goods.

Bigfa Joint Stock Company was established in December 2018. The founding group of Bigfa also co-founded several other companies, including Big Holding, Vicozy, and Tohano Vietnam.

A range of Bigfa-manufactured products, such as “Siro Khiết Hầu Đan” syrup, Toha Fast effervescent tablets, and NutriZabet health supplements, have been penalized by authorities for violating advertising regulations and making false claims.

Notably, Big Holding’s subsidiary, Bigfam Pharmaceutical Trading Joint Stock Company, operates the Big Family pharmacy franchise. In 2023, the company claimed to have nearly 1,000 drugstores nationwide, with almost 100 outlets scattered across districts and counties in Hanoi alone.

Since its inception, the Big Holding ecosystem has generated 4,000 billion VND in revenue from its diverse range of products and distribution channels.

Z Holding’s Fake HIUP Milk Powder Generated 6,700 Billion VND in Revenue

On June 19, 2025, the Ministry of Public Security announced the prosecution and arrest of key individuals from Z Holding Joint Stock Company (established in 2015).

According to initial investigations, Z Holding directed the production and marketing of HIUP 27 nutritional milk powder, which had an ex-factory price of only 87,800 VND per can but was sold at an average market price of 546,000 VND, nearly seven times higher.

Each can of milk was promoted as being able to increase a child’s height by 3-5 cm within just three months of consumption, despite only containing 15-17 nutritional components instead of the advertised 37. Many indicators fell short of 70% of the declared content, leading to its classification as counterfeit under Decree 98/2020/ND-CP.

Through aggressive social media marketing and endorsements from celebrities and KOLs, Z Holding generated 6,700 billion VND in revenue from the sale of this counterfeit HIUP 27 milk powder.

Soybean Oil Products from O Food Generated Over 8,200 Billion VND in 3 Years

On June 24, the Hung Yen Provincial Police initiated legal proceedings against three defendants, including Ms. Dang Thi Huong, Director of Nhat Minh Food Company, and Mr. Nguyen Trong Nang, Director of An Duong Trading and Service Company Limited, for “Producing, trading counterfeit goods of food, food additives” and “Smuggling” offenses.

The O Food-branded soybean oil was actually vegetable oil intended for animal feed production but was marketed as a legitimate food product for human consumption.

An Hung Phuc Company Limited was also implicated in this syndicate. It is estimated that the companies involved generated over 8,200 billion VND in revenue over the last three years.