There are more than 500 pyramid schemes in operation around the country and over 30,000 Fijians are involved in the illegal act.

The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission has confirmed several of these schemes are now under investigation.

Chief Executive Joel Abraham says people in core groups are now persons of interest and the Commission is building up a profile on these individuals.

“I’ve personally spoken to certain people in these core groups. One said to me, I am going to take this money and I’ll dro – in Fijian means, I am going to run away. There are other people who have taken close to four, five, or six thousand dollars and have just run away. And there are people waiting to get their money. These things are coming up in Nadi and Ba where people are complaining.”

Joel Abraham adds the schemes are causing a social divide within communities.

“ It is going to cause families to break apart, it is going to cause friends to break apart, it is going to cause people who attend church, mosques and temples to break apart because there will be bad blood when people lose their hard-earned money.”

The FCCC together with the Consumer Council are now looking into the magnitude of these illegal schemes. Earlier, the Minister of Commerce and Trade Faiyaz Koya warned that pyramid schemes are illegal and anyone found organizing or participating in these schemes will be charged.