Former Miss Grand International Arrested for Counterfeit Supplement Fraud in Vietnam

Vietnamese authorities on Tuesday arrested a beauty queen and social media influencer for consumer fraud after she promoted a counterfeit fibre supplement, media reports said.

Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien had heavily marketed gummies said to be rich in fibre on her social media channels.

But a public backlash erupted after product tests revealed this was untrue.

A former winner of the Miss Grand International beauty competition, Ms Nguyen is a well-known personality in Vietnam and previously received accolades from the government, BBC reported.

Ms Nguyen had promoted Kera Supergreens Gummies along with social media influencers, Pham Quang Linh and Hang Du Muc.

Investigators said the product was the result of a joint venture between Ms Nguyen and a company set up by the two other influencers.

The influencers claimed that each of their gummies contained fibre equivalent to a plate of vegetables.

A member of the public sent the product for testing at a lab, which found that each gummy only contained 16mg of fibre, far from 200mg as claimed.

Authorities then launched an investigation, which found that sub-standard ingredients that were low in fibre were used in the manufacture of the gummies.

The product's packaging also did not state the fibre content, nor did it state that the product contained a high level of sorbitol, which is used in laxatives.