AN “AI FRIENDS” CLUB RUN BY SERVING SOLDIERS SOLD 10,000 PEOPLE A 50-DAY “DOUBLE YOUR MONEY” DREAM. IT WAS A PYRAMID SCHEME — AND THE POLICE ONLY MOVED WHEN THE WITHDRAWALS STOPPED

TEN THOUSAND PEOPLE. EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS. A PROMISE THAT YOUR MONEY WOULD DOUBLE IN FIFTY DAYS. AND TWO SERVING NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS ALLEGEDLY RUNNING THE WHOLE THING OUT OF A “CIVIC GROUP” WITH “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE” IN ITS NAME.

That is not a hypothetical. That is Katerini, northern Greece, October 2026. The Hellenic Police’s Katerini Crime Prosecution and Investigation Sub-Directorate dismantled an alleged pyramid scheme that had recruited at least 10,000 people and pulled in roughly $8 million in about ten months — and nine of the 17 people arrested were members of the armed forces (Protothema, 2 October 2026).

The recruiting vehicle, according to the Athens daily To Vima, was a local club: the Association of Artificial Intelligence Friends in Katerini (Decrypt, 5 October 2026). Its 44-year-old leader was remanded in custody. None of the allegations has been tested in court, and the figures come from police sources rather than a charging document.

THE SHORT VERSION — WHAT THEY ARE ACCUSED OF

Police allege the group had been operating since at least 2025 across Pieria, Larissa, Mytilene on Lesbos, Patras, Ioannina, Komotini, Preveza, Kavala and the Attica region around Athens (Efsyn / Hellenic Police announcement, 2 October 2026). The pitch, per the police statement:

• A doubling of your capital within 50 days — described by investigators as extraordinarily high, fictitious returns (SKAI, 2 October 2026).
• “High and guaranteed returns with minimal or no risk.”
• A pyramid structure: members were rewarded for bringing in new investors, and withdrawals were said to have been blocked in recent weeks — which is when the complaints started (Protothema).
• No licence. Protothema: “It did not hold the licence required by the relevant regulator.” In Greece, offering investment returns to the public without authorisation from the Hellenic Capital Market Commission is the part that turns a bad idea into a felony file.
• Legitimacy theatre: the operation worked through “legitimate-looking companies and an online platform” and, per ERT, the club’s reputation was spread through social media until it became a sponsor of a football team (ERT, 5 October 2026).
• Offices in five cities — Katerini, Thessaloniki, Larissa, Patras and on a Dodecanese island.
• Charges, per the Katerini First Instance Prosecutor’s Office: membership of a criminal organisation, fraud, and money laundering. Felonies, all three.

THE €800 TICKET AND THE €5,000 “VIP” — THE CLASSIC PYRAMID LADDER

This is the part that should make every anti-MLM reader’s teeth itch, because you have seen it before. Entry was pitched at from €800. Investors designated “VIP” were asked for €5,000. Both tiers were promised their money would double (Decrypt).

In Katerini alone, investigators estimate the organisation signed up 1,842 members and took in around €2 million. Two alleged ringleaders were serving non-commissioned officers, one from Pieria and one from Larissa, and investigators believe the Larissa serviceman picked the method up from a contact he met while the pair were travelling overseas. A case file also names nine further people who have not been arrested.

Then the pattern completed itself the way it always does. Withdrawals stopped. Complaints went to the police. And the queue of victims started growing in public: 18 identified investors with €55,970 gone at the time of the announcement, rising to 81 complaints and €160,000 reported lost by 5 October — and that number is going up, not down (ERT). The case began in July with two anonymous complaints through gov.gr, the Greek government’s own digital services portal.

THE RAID: 32 PHONES, 21 LAPTOPS AND €295,090 IN CASH

Police searched five offices, nine homes and other premises. What came out of the doors tells you exactly what kind of business this was (Efsyn):

• €295,090 in CASH
• 32 mobile phones, 38 portable storage devices, 16 hard disks
• 21 laptops, 7 desktop computers, 15 tablets
• A money-counting machine. A CCTV recorder. Bank cards and SIM cards.
• And, on one of those arrested: a flare pistol, three firecrackers and 26 metal pellets.

Hearings before the investigating magistrate began on 3 October. One suspect was remanded and others were released under restrictive conditions, with bail set between €15,000 and €20,000 (Decrypt; ERT). Then, on 5 October, the two alleged ringleaders — the two serving soldiers — were remanded in custody (SKAI, 5 October 2026).

“AI” IS THE NEW SHRINK-WRAP. THE SKELETON IS 100 YEARS OLD.

Strip the buzzword and what you have is the oldest machine in the business: an unlicensed investment vehicle that pays earlier participants with later participants’ money, dressed up as a club you belong to, sold by people with titles, promoted by people you trust.

Swap “AI trading” for aloe vera, energy bars or weight-loss shakes and you are looking at every MLM enforcement action of the last decade. The pitch is identical: a low entry price, an upsell tier for the “serious” (that is your €5,000 VIP), a bonus for recruiting the next person, and an income promise that only maths can keep — which maths never does. We documented exactly the same mechanics three weeks ago in the largest MLM penalty in US history: a median annual “income” of $139 and a company that sold more than three-quarters of its product to its own distributors.

Pyramid schemes do not fail because they get caught. They fail because they run out of people, and the people they run out of first are the ones at the bottom who were told to trust the club.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO — RIGHT NOW

1. If you are in this scheme in Greece: report it to the Hellenic Police (astynomia.gr) or the cybercrime unit (cyberalert.gr). Keep every receipt, bank transfer, chat log and screenshot — the case file grows with evidence, and every complaint you file is another line in it. You can also report via gov.gr, which is how this case started.
2. If you are in the UK and you have been pitched something like this: report it to Action Fraud and check any firm against FCA ScamSmart before a single pound leaves your account.
3. If you are being pitched it by a friend or a family member: the ASA’s guidance on multi-level marketing is free, short, and written to be used in an argument. Send it to them.
4. Remember the two rules that catch almost everything: NO legitimate, licensed investment promises to double your money in 50 days. And NO legitimate scheme pays you a bonus for signing up other people rather than selling a product to a stranger.

Ten thousand people handed over money because a club with a serious-sounding name told them the future could be bought. Seventeen arrests later, three are in custody, the cash is in evidence bags, and everybody below them is still out of pocket.

SHARE THIS. Not for the outrage — for the next Katerini, the next town, the next group chat where somebody is being told their money will double in fifty days. That is the only version of this story that ends well.