Fiverr accounts manipulation by Betopia puts country’s freelancing sector in crisis

An company named Betopia has come under scrutiny over allegations of financial irregularities and scamming. It has also been accused of coordinated account operations and serious marketplace manipulation involving Fiverr, an international freelancing marketplace where people offer and buy freelance services.

Betopia has been accused of opening accounts on Fiverr using the national identity card and passport information of thousands of workers under the guise of hiring them, operating those accounts under its control, influencing the marketplace rankings through fake orders and reviews, and carrying out activities that harmed the businesses of competing freelancers.

After receiving multiple complaints on the matter from several leading Bangladeshi freelancers, around 300 Fiverr accounts linked to Betopia were suspended at the end of July. At the same time, several thousand more accounts linked to the organisation have reportedly come under monitoring and investigation.

Afterwards, on 4 August 2026, a notice was published in the Bangladesh section of Fiverr’s community forum. In the notice, a Fiverr community coordinator said that complaints had been received against various companies alleging that they created and controlled freelancer accounts on behalf of others and used fake reviews and orders to influence the marketplace’s reputation and position.

In the notice, Fiverr said that accounts and orders linked to these activities had been identified through an initial investigation. It also said that action would be taken against accounts violating its policies, including lowering their position on the marketplace. At the same time, Fiverr said it would continue the investigation and further improve its internal detection systems to quickly identify such coordinated manipulation in the future.

The incident has also caused concern in Bangladesh’s freelancing community. People involved in the sector fear that if the impact of allegations of coordinated manipulation against an organisation falls on Bangladesh’s freelancing market as a whole, countless genuine freelancers could have to bear the consequences.

The journey of the tech company BD Calling IT began in 2017, which is now known as Betopia Group. The group has also purchased several properties. Its head office is at Lotus Kamal Tower-2, Level 6, (59 and 61), South Avenue, Gulshan Avenue, in the capital. It also has offices in Banasree and Mohakhali in the capital.

A few days ago, the company purchased a nine-storey building on 8.8 per cent of land under the name of BD Calling IT Limited in Gulshan (House 8/C, Road 29, Gulshan 1, Dhaka). A signboard outside the building says, “This property is mortgaged to Premier Bank PLC, Keraniganj Branch, Dhaka.” The website says Betopia Group has five companies outside the country as well. However, no response was received from the people concerned about how these are operated from Bangladesh.

According to sources concerned, after receiving complaints about Betopia’s activities, Fiverr directly suspended around 300 accounts linked to Betopia at the end of July. At the same time, thousands more accounts linked to Betopia were reportedly brought under investigation over allegations of coordinated marketplace manipulation.

However, the notice published on Fiverr’s community forum on 4 August did not specifically mention 300 accounts or the name Betopia. According to sources concerned, instead of opening accounts directly in Betopia’s name, these accounts had been opened using the identities and passport information of people working at Betopia. After the investigation revealed how the accounts were operated and how identities were used, action was taken against the accounts concerned. Against this backdrop, a warning notice about coordinated account manipulation was published on Fiverr’s Bangladesh community forum.

Meanwhile, sources concerned also claimed that work worth around US$1.5 million completed through Betopia-linked accounts had been cancelled.

The notice titled “Ensuring fairness and integrity: an update on coordinated account manipulation,” which was published on Fiverr’s Bangladesh community forum on 4 August 2026, contained a detailed warning about coordinated account manipulation on Fiverr.

In the notice, Fiverr said "We want to address something the community has raised directly.

“We received reports of agencies conducting coordinated account manipulation on the Fiverr marketplace: creating and controlling freelancer accounts on behalf of others and generating fake reviews and orders to manipulate marketplace reputation.

“After an initial investigation, we have identified accounts and orders connected with these operations. As a result, all accounts found to be in violation are being issued a warning and will be demoted on the marketplace. In parallel, we are conducting a full-scale update to our marketplace governance mechanisms and will update the community in the coming months,” the notice read.

Several provisions of Fiverr’s own policies are directly related to the allegations against Betopia. According to Fiverr’s policies, a user can have one account for the purpose of buying and selling services. Creating multiple accounts and attempting to influence the marketplace’s operations or systems is considered a serious policy violation. In such cases, Fiverr may take strict action, including permanently suspending the account. In addition, gaining an unfair advantage over other users, creating confusion by misusing messaging or the order system, and using multiple accounts for fraudulent activities are also prohibited under Fiverr’s policies.

However, the most important issue in this case is “fake identity”. According to Fiverr’s policies, an account cannot be opened in another person’s name using their identity or personal information. That means even if an account is opened in one person’s identity, if its actual control is in the hands of another person or organisation, it would conflict with Fiverr’s policies. Because of this provision, Fiverr’s “fake identity” policy has become particularly important in the allegations against Betopia.

Betopia has been accused of using fake accounts to place orders on competitors’ freelancer gigs or accounts and then deliberately cancelling the orders or requesting refunds in order to harm their rankings. The issue recently came to light following allegations made by freelancer MN Nahid on Facebook.

He claimed that an order was placed on his Fiverr gig from an account linked to Betopia and was later cancelled. The information in a Figma file that he presented as evidence in this regard raised allegations of the involvement of a Betopia employee.

After the allegation became public, Betopia denied the matter and filed a general diary against Nahid at a police station, subjecting him to harassment. When the incident became public, it sparked strong reaction among freelancers.

The controversy intensified after a former Betopia employee’s statement was published on social media. The former employee claimed that fake orders were used to harm competitors and increase the rankings of their own gigs.

People who brought allegations against Betopia claimed that the company used the national identity card or passport information of more than 5,000 employees to create Fiverr accounts in the employees’ personal names. However, the employees themselves did not operate these accounts; rather, the accounts were operated under the company’s management.

Former employees allege that even after leaving their jobs, many of them did not regain control of Fiverr profiles opened or used in their names. As a result, they effectively lost control over online profiles created using their personal identities. Because of these issues, Fiverr has taken action against Betopia.

Alongside the allegations surrounding Fiverr, allegations against Betopia Group of withholding employees’ passports, threatening them with lawsuits or harassment if they wanted to leave their jobs, and physically abusing employees have also spread on social media.

Former employees have also accused the company of making them work for free or for low pay, carrying out large-scale layoffs within a short period, paying salaries irregularly and making employees work overtime. A former software engineer, who did not wish to be named, claimed that despite meeting the set targets during their internships and performing well, most members of a batch were dismissed after just one month on the pretext of an “evaluation score”.

There are also allegations of discrimination against Betopia over its salary structure. The complainants claim that the company has no clear policy regarding employee benefits such as provident fund, gratuity, health insurance and festival allowances.

Former employees alleged that Betopia used to publish job advertisements under the names of various affiliated companies or different organisations to avoid a negative image. Names such as FireAI, JVAI, SparkTech, Softvence and SMTech have emerged in this regard. According to information on Betopia’s own website (betopiagroup.com), the group has 22 companies under it.

Thousands of young people from Bangladesh are legally working on various international online marketplaces, including Fiverr and Upwork. Working under their own identities, they regularly bring foreign earnings into the country. However, recent action surrounding Betopia following allegations of fraudulent activities through the operation of a large number of organised accounts from the same country has also raised concerns among genuine Bangladeshi freelancers.

People concerned alleged that following recent action against Betopia, many accounts of real Bangladeshi freelancers are also being subjected to additional scrutiny. As a result, the working environment for real freelancers has become more difficult due to identity verification, review checks, account restrictions or increased monitoring.

Allegations of coordinated irregularities or manipulation in the management of Bangladeshi accounts on international marketplaces have created a risk of increased monitoring of the country’s legitimate freelancers by the platforms. As a result, foreign earnings may decline.

On the morning of 18 August, Betopia CEO Muhammad Monir Hossain called this reporter and said, “The person who was contacting you and providing information has been fired. You come in the afternoon and I will talk to you.”

He told Prothom Alo at the time, “Actually, I am trying to get out of this business. Many of my IDs on Fiverr are now affected. I will get out of this. I will do other businesses. This freelancing work is troublesome.”

Faisal Alim, secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of Contact Center and Outsourcing (BACCO), told Prothom Alo, “Any attempt to hinder the progress of freelancers is highly condemnable. Freelancers are on the priority list of the current government, and the government is committed to ensuring all necessary support for them. In such a situation, I strongly demand that swift and strict legal action be taken against those who are hindering this promising sector for young people.

“We believe that if our freelancer community receives opportunities, facilities and security, it will prosper further in the coming days and strengthen the economy by earning a record amount of foreign currency for the country,” he added.

An experienced Bangladeshi freelancer expressed strong discontent over the matter, saying that what Betopia Group is doing is not only unethical but a completely planned digital scam.

Bringing a gig to the first page on Fiverr is extremely difficult, almost like winning a war. A freelancer’s career, built painstakingly over five to seven years, and thousands of positive reviews can be destroyed by a few deliberate cancellations. It takes months to recover a lost ranking, which has a severe impact on a freelancer’s mental and financial condition. Unable to compete on the basis of talent and merit, the dirty game they have engaged in to harm other freelancers is simply like the behaviour of a mafia group. They are trying to cover up this wrongdoing by using legal threats or influence.

They are not only ruining the livelihoods of individual freelancers, but also seriously damaging the overall image of Bangladeshi freelancers on international marketplaces, the freelancer added.