More than 350 people from Almaty and five regions of Kazakhstan have reportedly fallen victim to a financial pyramid scheme operating under the name Envida.ai.

The investigation is being conducted by the Department of the Financial Monitoring Agency in Kazakhstan’s Zhambyl Region on charges related to the creation and management of a financial pyramid, The Caspian Post reports via Sputnik Kazakhstan.

According to investigators, the organizers used messenger apps to create chat groups where they promised participants stable and high passive income.

The project presented itself as an “international ecosystem” and claimed to invest in real assets in order to attract investors.

Law enforcement agencies are continuing the investigation as officials work to identify the full scale of the fraud and the number of victims involved.