The network company “Be” tempts young people with a life of luxury, currency speculation and huge bonuses. Norwegian authorities believe the company resembles an illegal pyramid scheme.
A cinema in Oslo is almost full of young adults. Loud trance music is played. A man stands on the floor in front of the canvas and shouts:
“It’s my time now. It’s my time now!”
The people in the hall shout back.
“It’s my time now!”
They clap and cheer.
On 18 February this year, the event “Supersaturday” took place in Hall 1 at the Klingenberg cinema in Oslo. Several hundred young people were present.
According to the tickets, the organizer was “Be Movement”. The event is linked to the company “Better Experience” (Be), which claims to have its head office in Dubai.
Recently, Be gatherings have been organized all over Norway, including in Porsgrunn, Haugesund, Finnsnes, Trondheim and Kristiansand. The marketing is clearly aimed at young people.
On Sunday 26 February there was a Be event at Vannkanten Kulturarena in Bergen. The person listed as the tenant told E24 they did not want the media there.
The company has not responded to E24’s question about how many members they have in Norway.
Be claims they sell apps with, among other things, webinars on crypto and currency trading. They also offer a travel platform which, according to Be, gives up to a 75 percent discount, compared to Booking.com.
In a video, the company claims that if you recruit enough customers, who in turn recruit other customers, it is possible to earn around half a million kroner a month in bonuses.
Suspect pyramid scheme
The Norwegian Lottery and Foundations Authority has received dozens of inquiries about the company.
In a letter to Be from October 2022, the supervisory authority writes that they take the business so seriously that they warn people against the company.
The Authority writes that they have no basis to “determine finally that the business is illegal”, but that Be has “clear similarities with illegal pyramid schemes”.
“If the turnover in the business in Norway is particularly linked to recruitment in the form of membership fees or overpriced goods, then the business will be considered an illegal pyramid-like turnover system in Norway”, writes the inspectorate.
The authority emphasizes that if the company operates illegally, both the company and the people who participate and advertise for it risk fines or imprisonment.
Denies the charges
In a response to the Lotteries and Foundations Authority, a representative of Be rejects the claims that the company has similarities with pyramid schemes.
They also deny that the company gives investment advice, and write that it is not possible to invest through the platforms. Furthermore, they reply that it is not necessary to pay to join, and that the members’ income comes exclusively from the sale of Be’s products – not from recruiting new members.
E24 has asked Be a number of questions. The company does not respond directly to the pyramid scheme accusations, but refers to the response they have given to the Norwegian Lottery and Foundations Authority.
E24 has tried to get in touch with two Norwegian people who have contributed to Be events, and are themselves promoting the company in social media. They have not responded to the inquiries.
No overview of the scope
Silje Sægrov Amble in the Norwegian Lottery Authority tells E24 that they have occasionally received inquiries about Be every day.
– We see that they have active marketing and that they have recruitment meetings in Norway. But we don’t have an overview of the scope in Norway, she says.
Amble believes the company has several features that resemble a pyramid scheme.
– They have to pay to participate and there are recruitment premiums. In addition, there is a fixed payment, like a subscription. And it is possible to enlist people further down the system. It is also difficult to understand what you are paying for, she says.
A representative for Be writes in an e-mail to E24 that they cannot state how many “distributors” they have. In a one-year-old video from the company, one of the managers claims that the company has 60,000 active customers.
“14,000 participants”
On Be’s YouTube channel, there are videos from large stadium events abroad, full of people in fancy dress. They hug, cheer and cry. In one of the videos, several of the participants hold Norwegian flags, and the confetti falls from the ceiling.
The video is from an event in Rome where a Norwegian was praised for his efforts in Be. E24 has not made contact with the Norwegian.
The weekend 25–26 In March, Be has announced an event at the Oslofjord Convention Center outside Sandefjord.
The tickets cost from around NOK 600 to 7,000. In the information about the event, it previously stated that they expect 14,000 participants. In an e-mail to E24 earlier this week, Be wrote that they expect around 2,000 participants, and that the number 14,000 is a typing error which they will now correct.
On Friday afternoon, Oslofjord Convention Center informed E24 that they have now canceled the event. The congress center justified the cancellation with the warning from the Norwegian authorities against Be.
Luxury and wealth
In social media, Be members post pictures of exotic trips, exclusive flights and expensive cars.
According to an informational video from Be, it costs up to NOK 15,000 to gain access to the company’s products and apps that offer training in currency speculation, access to webinars, and a platform for booking cheap travel. Thereafter, access costs up to NOK 1,500 per month.
“Be does not give any advice on investments in Norway or anywhere else in the world. It is made abundantly clear in the document we have shared [Stiftelses- og lotteritilsynet]», the company writes in an email to E24.
The company also advertises that if you manage to sign up two paying customers, you will never have to pay the monthly fee again.
E24 has asked if Be can explain which products they sell, and how the members and the company make money.
“BE distributors do not pay anything to become a distributor. BE distributors receive no income from pure recruitment. The only way to get income is via sales as a sales commission,” writes the company.
In a video from the company, the managers show off expensive cars and exclusive lifestyles.
Brothers with Onecoin background are behind it
According to the company, the brothers Monir, Moyn and Ehsaan Islam are behind Be. Two of the brothers, Monir and Moyn, have a background in the crypto scam Onecoin. According to the US Department of JusticeOnecoin was a pyramid scheme that sold a worthless cryptocurrency for a total of NOK 40 billion to investors worldwide.
According to what should be one press release from Be, the brothers claim to have been misled by Onecoin management and that they tried to warn others. It appears that the brothers must have contributed to around 700 people joining Onecoin.
In an email to E24, Be writes that “Mr. Islam” was neither an owner, promoter nor employee of Onecoin, but that he joined by “buying a package like millions of others”, and thought it was an honest company.
“They were only around for seven months or less, lost money and left the company. They have since urged everyone not to get involved with that company,” writes Be in the email.
Tears and cheers
From the stage at a Be event in Colombia, Monir Islam tells their story.
He claims they went from being poor to becoming rich and successful, but does not give any details about the company’s development.
“All I wanted to do was a good thing. never hurt anyone, love people, take care of people, take care of my family and just do something good to change my life,” says Monir Islam, crying from the stage. In the hall, the audience cries with him.
