Betopia has become one of the most talked-about companies in Bangladesh’s freelancing and technology sector. What began as allegations that the company used fake orders on the international freelancing marketplace Fiverr to damage the rankings of competing freelancers has now expanded into a series of broader accusations. The company has come under intense criticism on social media over claims that it retained employees’ passports, operated Fiverr accounts in employees’ names, managed multiple accounts, filed legal cases against employees, paid low wages, mistreated staff, and employed unethical tactics against competitors. Although Betopia has denied most of these allegations and described some of the incidents as misunderstandings, the growing number of claims and public statements has made the issue one of the most widely discussed topics within Bangladesh’s freelancing community.
The controversy began after freelancer M N Nahid published a video alleging that Betopia deliberately placed fake orders on his Fiverr gig and later canceled them. According to Nahid, repeated order cancellations severely damaged his gig’s ranking under Fiverr’s algorithm, resulting in significant financial losses. He further claimed that his suspicions were based on ownership and editing information linked to a Figma file attached to one of the disputed orders, which he believed indicated Betopia’s involvement.
Following the allegations, Betopia rejected the claims as false and malicious. The company initiated legal action, and the dispute eventually reached the police. Betopia later released a video explaining its position, claiming that the Figma file in question belonged to another client project and had been mistakenly shared with “Anyone Can View” permission. The company also alleged that the same client had placed fake orders against Betopia as well. Subsequently, M N Nahid released another video stating that the matter had been resolved through discussions and that he had accepted the explanation provided to him.
Despite both parties announcing a settlement, the controversy did not end. Many members of the technology community questioned why Betopia had not released its explanation earlier if the issue had simply been a misunderstanding. Others raised concerns over why the company presented static screenshots instead of demonstrating the Fiverr pages live, why the Figma file remained publicly accessible, and whether the evidence shown in the explanatory video was sufficiently credible. However, no independently verified evidence supporting these concerns has been made public.
The controversy took another turn when Shaker Adnan published statements from a former Betopia employee who requested anonymity. In the post, the former employee alleged that the company had used fake orders as a strategy to damage competitors’ Fiverr rankings. The claims generated renewed discussion across social media. However, these allegations have not been independently or officially verified.
Following Nahid’s allegations, numerous individuals shared their own experiences involving Betopia on social media. They alleged that the company operated multiple Fiverr accounts, created new accounts using employees’ passports, retained control of those accounts instead of transferring ownership to employees after they left, and required employees to deactivate existing Fiverr accounts before joining the company. Additional allegations included low salaries, delayed wage payments, legal harassment through lawsuits, and inhumane treatment of employees.
According to various sources, the Betopia Group currently operates 22 companies, including Betopia Limited, Softvence, SparkTech Agency, SM Technology, JVAI, GenexCloud, Backbencher Studio, ScaleUp, BDCalling, PulseGrid, BDCalling Enterprise, Fire AI, Pixelora Studio, and Gencore. Various allegations have also been made against several of these companies on social media, although none of these claims have been independently verified.
Claims regarding the company’s alleged practice of collecting employees’ passports have also drawn significant attention. Several social media users alleged that employees are required to surrender their passports upon joining Betopia and that those passports are then used to create Fiverr accounts. According to the allegations, while the company earns substantial foreign currency through those accounts, employees receive little of the financial benefit. Commenting on the issue, Mohabbat Jan wrote that requiring employees to hand over their passports to create Fiverr accounts, refusing to return control of those accounts after employment ends, or forcing employees to deactivate previous accounts before joining the company cannot be considered a healthy employment practice. Meanwhile, Md Imrul Islam questioned why employees would be required to submit their passports for a job in Bangladesh and asked why authorities had not taken action if the allegations were true.
In an analytical Facebook post, Shamsuddin Chowdhury Delwar argued that M N Nahid’s original allegations should not be mixed with the other accusations that later surfaced, as doing so could obscure the core issue. According to him, allegations involving employees’ passports, multiple Fiverr accounts, fake orders, and other unethical practices should each be investigated separately with concrete evidence. He added that instead of dismissing these allegations as an “open secret,” those making the claims should gather verifiable evidence and submit it to Fiverr, the relevant labor authorities, or other appropriate regulatory bodies.
After Betopia released its explanatory video, Masum Mahdi Nahid questioned why the company did not reload the Fiverr pages live during the demonstration. He argued that because webpage content could potentially be altered before recording, the video alone was insufficient to conclusively refute the allegations.
When asked about the allegations, Mohammad Monir Hossain, managing director of Betopia Group, said that issues related to legal cases filed against employees had already been resolved. Sabina Akter, Chairperson of Betopia Group, stated that there had been misunderstandings between the parties and acknowledged that the company had made some mistakes. She said similar mistakes would not be repeated in the future. However, she did not specifically address the allegations concerning fake orders, the use of employees’ passports to operate Fiverr accounts, or the management of multiple Fiverr accounts.
Industry stakeholders say that if the allegations are proven true, they could pose a serious threat to the international reputation and credibility of Bangladesh’s freelancing industry, one of the country’s important sources of foreign currency earnings. On the other hand, if the allegations prove to be unfounded, an impartial investigation would be equally important to protect the reputation of the company. They have therefore called for a transparent and independent investigation by the relevant authorities, Fiverr, and law enforcement agencies to establish the facts.