More than 40 pyramid schemes are being investigated by the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The schemes came to light earlier this year after the Fiji Intelligence Unit raised the red flag when more than 150 individuals fell victim to the gifting scheme.

FCCC had earlier revealed that at its peak, 500 of these illegal gifting circles were running across Fiji, with over 30,000 people involved.

Chief Executive, Joel Abraham, says investigations into the virtual pyramid schemes started before the second wave of COVID-19.

“Most were perpetrating through Facebook, messenger, social media, through Viber platform. We got 45 cases that are under investigation and we continue the investigation and we hope to lay charges shortly. “

Abraham says the FCCC confirms other cases are also being investigated.

“Most recently we got an eye out for two major ones that have the potential to become a scam, sort of an affiliated marketing scheme and we are jointly investigating with a few other agencies.”

Pyramid schemes are illegal and anyone found organizing or participating in them can be charged.