Investigators launched criminal proceedings against Vu Thuy Trang, 35, from HCM City, and Truong Thoai Vinh, 32, from Can Tho City, on charges of producing and trading counterfeit food products.
Police alleged that the pair exploited growing demand for ready-to-eat bird's nest products by selling Mina Nest and Gold Nest items through Facebook.
Trang allegedly operated 10 Facebook fan pages, ran nationwide advertising campaigns and appeared in livestreams promoting the products as premium bird's nest products containing up to 70 per cent bird's nest.
Authorities said she outsourced production to third-party manufacturers for VND6,000-9,000 per jar, then designed labels and packaging before reselling the products at much higher prices.
Investigators said Trang hired Vinh to help manage the business and design labels bearing the names of non-existent manufacturers. Several workers were also employed to label products, process orders and arrange deliveries nationwide.
The investigation found that products sold under the Gold Nest and Mina Nest brands listed manufacturers in Danang and Khanh Hoa Province. Authorities later determined that the companies did not exist and that the information had been fabricated to mislead consumers.
Police searched a warehouse in HCM City and seized more than 70,000 jars of bird's nest products, a labelling machine and large quantities of packaging materials and labels.
Vinh has been placed in temporary detention, while Trang has been banned from leaving her residence because she is pregnant.
The investigation is ongoing.
