Greek authorities have reportedly taken down a suspected cryptocurrency pyramid that investigators say pulled in roughly eight to nine million dollars by telling participants their deposits would double in about fifty days.
Officers from the Katerini Crime Prosecution and Investigation Sub-Directorate led a months-long inquiry that culminated in coordinated raids on 30 September 2026.
Seventeen people were arrested, two of them identified as leaders, and a case file was opened against nine others.
The operation stretched across Pieria, Larissa, Mytilene, Patras, Ioannina, Komotini, Preveza, Attica and Kavala.
According to the Hellenic Police bulletin issued on 2 October, the group had been active since at least 2025.
It presented itself through company structures that looked legitimate and through an online platform.
Participants were assured that their starting capital would double, with little or no risk, even though the operation held no licence from the competent regulator.
Investigators concluded that the arrangement followed a classic pyramid pattern: some members concentrated on recruiting fresh investors, while returns for earlier participants depended on money arriving from those who joined later.
Police estimate that at least 10,000 people were drawn in and that more than eight million dollars flowed onto the platform.
At the time of the announcement, eighteen victims had been formally identified; their combined deposits totalled 55,970 euros, a fraction of the wider sum believed to have entered the system.
Searches of five offices, nine homes and other premises recovered 295,090 euros in cash, 32 mobile phones, 38 USB sticks, 16 storage disks, 28 computers, 15 tablets, a money-counting machine, a CCTV recorder, bank cards and phone cards.
One arrested person was also found with a flare pistol, three firecrackers and 26 metal pellets.
Those detained were taken before the Katerini prosecutor and referred to an investigating judge.
Contemporary reporting adds further detail on how the pitch was framed.
Organizers are said to have used an association styled the Hellenic Artificial Intelligence Team Association, or AT Team Greece, with branches in several cities, as a vehicle that lent the project an appearance of seriousness.
Investors were told their money would be placed in automated trading, often described as powered by artificial intelligence, and converted into stablecoins such as USDT or USDC.
Withdrawals were reportedly blocked during the fifty-day window in which the doubling was supposed to occur.
Around the start of September, withdrawals were suspended altogether, with a change in strategy offered as the explanation, prompting complaints that helped accelerate the investigation.
Some accounts also note that nine of those arrested were military personnel, including two non-commissioned officers alleged to have held senior roles inside the organization, and that entry levels began around 800 euros, with higher “VIP” tiers near 5,000 euros.
The case remains at the investigative stage.
Allegations of criminal organization membership, fraud and related financial offences have not yet been tested in court, and the larger loss figure is an estimate drawn from platform inflows rather than a completed accounting of every claimant.
Even so, the seizures and the scale of recruitment illustrate how quickly an unlicensed promise of guaranteed, short-term doubling can expand when it is wrapped in the language of automated trading and community associations.