The Bhutanese Leading the way.
There are two Facebook pages called ‘Sandeep Rai Chamling Official’ (SRC) with around 7,389 followers and Sandeep Rai Chamling with 6,800 followers. There are another 9,048 followers on Tiktok and 1,694 followers on Instagram.
There are frequent videos of Sandeep Rai Chamling claiming to earn hundreds of dollars a day through Crypto ‘Trading,’ and inspirational quotes about making money. There are lifestyle videos of him living the good life, getting an expensive watch, an expensive bike, going for a holiday to Phobjikha, buying an expensive bag using crypto or happening to go for a meal to a five star hotel in Thimphu.
Photos from Sandeep Rai Chamling Official Facebook page
Sandeep, who is also the owner of the Pandorzbiz.com, an e-commerce platform and business, is coming under increasing public scrutiny after a former client ,Kezang Choden (44), levied various allegations against him on social media over his SRC Mentorship Plan that claims to train people to do ‘crypto trading’ through the PandoraBiz app and also earn Cryptocurrency.
However, the mentorship business is being done without any license or clearance from authorities and the only license he has is for e-commerce. It is not just Kezang, as there are statements from large numbers of former clients, who also claim they have lost their money with Sandeep (see separate story here ).
There is also a Facebook page called PandoraBiz.com belonging to the same Sandeep Rai Chamling with 67,000 followers that promotes the same App promoted by Sandeep. This page which started as an e-commerce page for PandoraBiz apart from selling items online built its visibility in part by warning people about online ‘scams’ in the past few years.
Troubled past
Back around November 2023, the Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (CCAA) first came across Pandorzbiz.com giving mainly online Crypto mentorship classes where people paid between Nu 2,777 to Nu 6,000 and they were introduced to FreeBitco.in, a dubious and controversial crypto website, where one had to play games or gamble to earn Bitcoin units called Satoshi, but more on this site later.
The CCAA, at the time, referred the matter to the Bhutan Qualifications and Professional Certification Authority (BQPCA) since Sandeep’s company was giving courses without any authorization.
The BQPCA in February 2024 issued a notification asking people to not undertake such trainings, and Sandeep was told he could not provide such trainings by a firm not registered with BQPCA and its course not approved by the regulator.
Sandeep, however, did not stop and continued the business, and then when BQCPA caught him again, he was fined Nu 10,000 and on top of that made to pay tax for the amount earned by him at the time.
Matters, however, did not stop there, and Sandeep then launched the ‘SRC Mentorship Plan’ where he collected thousands from many people in return for teaching about crypto trading and how to earn crypto currency through FreeBitco.in.
The modus operandi was that people would get multiple messages and calls with frequent follow ups to join. There were mass messages sent on social media, especially in Facebook and Tiktok. In a few cases people impressed with the videos would reach out themselves.
Under SRC Mentorship Plan people have to pay Nu 6,262 and download the PandoraBiz App where there are some videos of Sandeep giving a course about trading.
Photos from Sandeep Rai Chamling Official Facebook page
Kezang’s experience
However, an increasing number of people who signed on are not happy with the product and say they were misled and want their money back.
One of them is Kezang Choden who has been at the forefront of exposing and criticizing Sandeep.
She said it started in 2022 when crypto currency and Bitcoin was getting popular in Bhutan with it coming in the news, Sandeep used to charge around Nu 777 offering the FreeBitco.in link and this was later increased to Nu 2,700.
She joined in 2023 paying around Nu 2,900 and went on the FreeBitco.in link where they had to play games to earn Satoshi (a small unit of Bitcoin). With not much earning and use, she lost interest and left it.
Kezang said that PandoraBiz.com staff then called her multiple times in January 2025 asking her to join again saying there is a ‘SRC Mentorship Plan’ with Lifetime Access for Nu 6,262 and the last few slots were left. She said there was also a promise of 10 USDT (a crypto coin pegged to the dollar).
Kezang said she never got the 10 USDT and the training was just a few videos for which she said to pay Nu 18 per video. She said she did not get the training and service promised to her beforehand and when she called Sandeep to complain and ask for the 10 USDT, she said she was scolded by him. There is an online audio clip of Sandeep talking to her rudely.
She said she then realized that she had been scammed. She said that there are much better training videos on YouTube and that too for free.
Kezang then started posting Tiktok videos sharing her experience and she said there were many people who contacted her in the inbox or in the comments also sharing similar experiences.
She said Sandeep keeps making videos saying he earns USD 300 or 400 from trading a day, but if that is the case why is he charging so many members high amounts. She said that just in her group of Nu 6,262 there around 800 members which means Sandeep has made around Nu 5 million just from her group, and she says there are many other groups which means he must have earned in the tens of millions.
Photo from Sandeep Rai Chamling Official Facebook page
A former employee of Sandeep said he was told once that there are 21,000 people who have downloaded the PandoraBiz App.
Kezang said she did research online and talked to an actual crypto trader on Tiktok, and she was told that trading is highly risky and akin to gambling and it takes many years to acquire the skills.
Kezang was removed from the WhatsApp group for her critical videos as ‘breach of contract’ and when she asked for her money back, she was ignored. Only when her videos went viral, a lawyer for Sandeep contacted her, and she said they offered to refund her provided she removed all her videos and put up a video saying her past videos had been a misunderstanding. She refused.
Gambling?
Giving an example of what Kezang called gambling, she shared a video Sandeep sent in her chatgroup where he proposes a ‘Learn and Earn Tournament’ where there are 30 slots where each person has to give USD 100 or Nu 8,640 entry fee and play trading in a Demo (demonstration) account. The winner will get USD 200 or Nu 17,240 and the entry fee back.
This leaves USD 2700 with Sandeep.
Sandeep then says the winners of four such groups will compete and get Nu 100,000.
This means Sandeep will earn USD 10,800 from 4 groups and pay just around USD 1,200 still leaving him with USD 9,600 in profit. She said this is like gambling where Sandeep always wins.
A closer look at PandoraBiz App
The Bhutanese took a closer look at the PandoraBiz App to see Sandeep’s source of revenue apart from the direct fees he was charging members.
The App has a link to a crypto website called FreeBitco.in where users are encouraged to go to earn bitcoins in mostly gambling kinds of games, like rolling a lucky number every hour for a chance to win up to 0.02 BTC but this is very limited and depends on who rolls first, a weekly lottery that gives users additional chances to win Bitcoin rewards and dice and betting games which is a crypto gambling-style game where users bet BTC for higher payouts.
Sandeep would be making money here as he would get a 25% commission for referral of new members through him. There is 25% commission for any bitcoin interest earned by members and a 25% commission on the funds they wager in gambling on the site.
Sandeep is seen asking Bhutanese abroad to download a VPN to get access to the site as he says there could be firewalls that prevent access to countries like Australia and others.
The site rates very low in terms of international safety and scamadviser.com gives the website a very low score of 1 out of 100.
Scamadviser.com says the trust score of FreeBitco.in is extremely low and it is a strong indicator that the website maybe a scam. The site has no SSL certificate and it detected a possible gambling website.
The score means it is very likely unsafe as websites in this score have a high risk of being malicious or untrustworthy. It says it may contain malware, phishing and scams and users should exercise extreme caution and avoid entering any personal information.
The website has been there since 2013 and while there has been withdrawals and payment proof in the past, in recent times there is strong evidence of withdrawal delays, lack of support and issues with bonus or token systems affecting many users.
The Netherlands Regulator, KSA, found the site offering gambling without a gambling license and it was fined 840,000 Euros to compel the operator to cease operations, but even after warnings people in the Netherlands could still access the gambling features.
There is also a large volume of user-reported issues. They complain of withdrawals of ‘Fun Tokens’ or non-Bitcoin assets are delayed to stuck or never reach them.
While initially small rewards come through but as amounts increase there are denials, delays and support tickets are ignored.
A Bhutanese user seems to have encountered such a withdrawal issue. There is a WhatsApp screen shot where a person is complaining to Sandeep with a screen shot of pending payouts to him from FreeBitco.in and emails saying, “I emailed many times, but it’s not credited to my wallet. I am sure you showed us the wrong website and lost our fu****g money on the website and course fee for this scam website bro.”
Instead of addressing the issue, Sandeep replies saying, “Is it smart for you to use such words for me? Do you want to go personal?”
The website also allows for people to put in ‘investments’ through Bitcoin wallets which can be large amounts of money with no limit. This means Bhutanese can lose large amounts of money in what is essentially a risky and gambling based website, and the more they wager the more Sandeep can earn as commission.
In one message on Facebook, sandeepchamlingbtn says, “…You can receive your profits in your trading account within a maximum of one week. For example, you invest USD 1,000 it could earn you a profit up to USD 5,000 or more within a week of trading it consistently.”
The videos on the PandoraBiz App are also problematic, as reported by users who say it does not help them to understand trading, and there is very little to no face to face sessions.
PandoraBiz Coin: A new crypto coin
Even as issues with SRC Mentorship Plan and the PandoraBiz App were not resolved, in July 2025, PandoraBiz.com under Sandeep went ahead and launched what it claimed was Bhutan’s first digital coin or PandoraBiz Coin (PB Coin) also claiming it would soon enter the international crypto market.
It said on a Telegram page with 4,760 subscribers that the value of each PB coin is equivalent to one Ngultrum. It was announced on the same Telegram page that there would be 100 billion (bn) PB Coins which theoretically means Sandeep has Nu 100 bn of PB coins making him Bhutan’s richest man.
Sandeep says PB Coin is a reward based digital currency which can be earned by referring friends or family to download the App (5 PB Coin) as an affiliate marketer and create the account (10 PB Coin) with PandoraBiz App, watch advertisement videos in the App (5 PB Coin), shop from the app (1% PB Coin of the price of the item), if the person they gave a link to buys something (1% of the price), watch uploaded movies (1 PB Coin) and watch uploaded podcasts (2 PB Coins).
However, to encash PB Coin, a person needs to have a minimum of 10,000 PB Coins which is Nu 10,000.
But he suggests not to convert the PB Coin into Nu and keep it with them unless there is an emergency as the value of the funds will go up.
Sandeep said he and his team are working on registering PB Coin as an international crypto currency. He says people have missed Bitcoin, Pi and many others and they should not miss PB Coin as in the coming 2026/27 they will work to register it in Binance, OKX and more. He claims it will be registered as Bhutan’s first crypto currency in the global market.
In a later post lower down, there is a disclaimer saying though the value of 1 PB Coin equals Nu 1 in value inside their platforms, PB Coins is not legal tender, not a currency and not an investment product. It says PB Coin is a utility token giving access to rewards or services.
A video of Sandeep claiming that 1 PB coin is equivalent to 1 Ngultrum
The PB Coin Telegram page keeps sharing news on crypto developments including one where Bhutan joined with Binance to accept crypto payments from tourists in Bhutan.
To earn 1% PB Coin the Telegram page pushes members top buy portable homes, tab, smart 4G CC camera from PandoraBiz App.
The PB Coins to be gained from watching advertisements is limited as there is only 3500 PB Coins per advertisement which means the first 700 who view it will get 5 PB Coins each only.
Since the PB Coins have no money or liquidity backing it, it is not an internationally accepted crypto currency, and it is earned through referral and commissions this would well turn into a convoluted pyramid scheme or be worthless.
The PB Coin also released a ‘Whitepaper’ claiming it will expand to India, SAARC nations and eventually global markets. It aims to go global from 2027 onwards and be listed on exchanges.
Action against SRC Mentorship Plan
Towards the end of September 2025 there was an anonymous complaint to the CCAA talking of the SRC Mentorship Plan.
The CCAA found that Sandeep did not have any license to do this, and since it involved currency, CCAA forwarded the matter to the Royal Monetary Authority (RMA).
It was decided then that a joint committee of CCAA, RMA, Department of Trade, Department of Law and Order and BQPCA would look at the issue.
They had a meeting last week and it was decided that the RMA notification issued on 30th April 2025 would apply and Sandeep would be asked to stop the SRC Mentorship Plan. This notification said ‘Crypto mining and exchanges will be allowed only for Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) registered entities and business partners, regulated under the GMC regulatory framework’; and ‘On-ramping for crypto trading through domestic banks regulated by the RMA will continue to be restricted.’
The CCAA, BQPCA and RMA will all call him and brief him, and tell him it is not allowed.
However, the above agencies have no idea officially yet about PB Coin, and so are yet to act on it.
Also, apart from the above, 4 official complaints have been filed with CCAA and one complaint with the Royal Bhutan Police and there are many more complaints online about SRC and Sandeep (see separate story on pg 1) which throws more light on the issue.
Sandeep responds online
In the meantime, in response to Tiktok videos and criticism by Kezang, Sandeep came online recently saying the SRC Mentorship Plan is not a scam. He showed screen shots of emails sent by his mentees in support of him. He admitted he takes Nu 6,262 for the program for lifetime mentorship.
He said 10 USDT is only for those who registered on 18th February 2025 and those who contacted him got it. He said those who contacted him later did not get it. He said calls for follow up are done after 2 days, 3 days, one week and after 2 weeks after which there is no follow up. He said no one was forced to join the SRC Mentorship Plan.
He said that he tells those who do not know English will have a tough time learning trading. He said he shouted loudly in the viral video as it was a reaction, and only one side has been shown. He said going on social media and defaming other people is a big allegation and legally very dangerous.
However, in a separate video that was leaked by Kezang, it shows Sandeep asking his members to send emails of support to CCAA, when the first complaint had been filed against SRC Mentorship Plan, sharing the email address, mobile number and name of the CCAA officer.
He says that if they are to continue the mentorship program they must write to CCAA otherwise CCAA may stop it. He also says people to contact the officer using WhatsApp though email may be better. He also says if they don’t agree then he will meet his members (who number in the hundreds) and they will together go to the CCAA office.
The Bhutanese reached out to Sandeep and gave him an opportunity to respond to all of the above, but he declined.
