Inside the Mailisa Scandal The Rise and Fall of Vietnam’s Most Controversial Beauty Brand

One of Vietnam’s most recognisable beauty clinic chains has been swept into a major criminal investigation, with its husband and wife owners voluntarily handing over three hundred billion dong in compensation along with luxury cars, land titles and gold bars as police uncover a nationwide cosmetics smuggling network.

The Ministry of Public Security confirmed that Phan Thi Mai, director of Mailisa Beauty Clinic, and her husband Hoang Kim Khanh have been arrested along with seven others on charges linked to large scale smuggling and illegal distribution of cosmetic products. Investigators say the couple built a sophisticated shadow supply chain that presented cheap goods from China as premium Hong Kong made skincare, allowing the brand to expand into seventeen branches across the country and sell more than eight million items under the Doctor Magic label.

According to police, three core items alone the M01 pigment removal cream, the M03 brightening cream and the M23 BB Nano sunscreen accounted for more than three million boxes, generating illicit profits worth thousands of billions of dong. The products, manufactured in Guangzhou for as little as thirty thousand to one hundred fifty thousand dong each, were allegedly repackaged with high end branding, promoted through heavy advertising and endorsed by the couple’s lavish public lifestyle.

Authorities say the goods were shipped through Hong Kong using two shell companies controlled by the couple and several Chinese associates. Fake international invoices were used to certify the products as Hong Kong made before they were imported into Vietnam through a company owned by Mr Khanh. Paperwork was then legalised through fraudulent documents submitted to the Drug Administration of Vietnam. In total, one hundred sixty two cosmetic items reached the market at prices many times higher than their production cost.

The Drug Administration has now recalled all one hundred sixty two products and issued a public warning urging consumers to stop using them due to possible risks of allergic reactions and skin infections.

The case has exposed a troubling convergence of aggressive marketing, regulatory loopholes and consumer trust in premium foreign cosmetics. Mailisa’s official Facebook page, with more than two point eight million followers, announced a temporary shutdown and apologised to customers as the investigation intensifies.

Investigators have already seized three billion dong in cash, four hundred thousand US dollars, three hundred taels of SJC gold and one hundred land titles. In addition, the couple voluntarily submitted three hundred billion dong in restitution and handed over registration papers for twelve supercars along with other valuable assets to support the ongoing probe.

The Mailisa scandal has quickly become one of the most high profile consumer product fraud cases in recent years, raising wider concerns about supply chain integrity and oversight in Vietnam’s booming beauty and wellness industry.