Tiens Group

In September 2016, the FDA issued an advisory letter[10] warning them that their claim of treating or preventing "asthma, cancer, rheumatism, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, myocardial infarction, stroke, sexually transmitted diseases (e.g., herpes), cerebral embolism, and dementia" violates the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. As of December 2022, the FDA still lists Tiens products among "Products Illegally Marketed for Serious Diseases".[11] These include TIENS Super Calcium with Lecithin, TIENS Selenium Supplement, TIENS Natto Ginkgo, TIENS Cell Rejuvenation Yi Kang, TIENS Cordyceps, and TIENS Wei Kang Vitality.[11]

Tiens has been the subject of controversy in Bangladesh, where the company is known as Tianshi (Bengali: তিয়ানশি). According to local news reports, many people in Bangladesh who invested in Tianshi lost their money, and they claimed that the products were ineffective and priced 4 to 20 times higher than comparable products from well known retailers.[12][13][14]

In 2015, the Government of Bangladesh banned all types of domestic and foreign MLM trade in Bangladesh including Tiens.[15]

Between 2017 and 2018, the company secretly left the country after embezzling hundreds of crores taka from consumers.[16]

According to an article in The Guardian, in Uganda, the company's "food supplements" are being touted as cures for everything from cancer and HIV to hernias, tumors, and appendicitis.[7] The report claims that the company is a pyramid scheme, where most of the money is generated from joining fees of new recruits.[7]

In November 2008, Jamia Darul Uloom, Karachi, a seminary headed by the Grand Mufti of Pakistan, issued a Fatwa to the effect that the marketing scheme of Tiens is not permissible.[17] On 3 November 2011, another fatwa was issued about a fake fatwa that was circulating without signatures or stamps, claiming that Jamia Darul Uloom has retracted its previous reservations, and now considers it permissible. The fatwa stated that this is a fake, and the original fatwa has not been altered. M. Mahmood suggested that perhaps the original fatwa was based on a misunderstanding of the economic workings of Tiens, and provided more detailed information about how the multi-level marketing scheme works. He asked for a review of the original fatwa, and on 28 November 2011, a fatwa further reconfirmed that the new facts presented do not substantially change the original decision.