SD Pay and Apna Pay Wallet Scheme, Gujarat: Police Say Rs 1,211 Crore Moved, 18 FIRs and 12 Arrests; Daily-Interest and Referral Promises

What happened

Two mobile apps, SD Pay and Apna Pay, were sold as digital wallets for bill payments and mobile recharges. Gujarat police now say they were the front of a deposit scheme. On 2 September 2026, Amreli Cybercrime Police registered a case against the promoters and directors of the apps. By the first days of November, Indian Express and the420.in reported that the matter had grown to at least 18 FIRs in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, with 12 people arrested. Every figure below is a police figure as reported, and the people named in it are accused, not convicted. Checked on 3 November 2026; the latest figures we could open run to 31 October.

Police say users were promised daily interest of 0.15 to 0.30 per cent, depending on the amount put in. When that alone did not bring in enough money, a referral cashback was added: 30 per cent for the first level of the chain, falling to 3 per cent for levels 10 to 15. Police say there was no real business behind the interest. In the words of an investigator quoted by Indian Express, the seven companies set up for the scheme created no value through production or services, and earlier investors were paid from the deposits of the ones who came later. Seminars, online meetings and marketing campaigns brought people in.

How it came to light

• March 2026: investors stopped getting their daily interest. According to the reports, they were then offered shares in the company, with talk of a future public listing, in place of their money. Police gave the example of an agent whose wallet showed Rs 16 crore on 30 October and who held a receipt for 2 lakh shares at a notional Rs 20 each.
• 6 June 2026: a computer operator in Savarkundla complained of being cheated of Rs 2 lakh. The money was returned and he withdrew the complaint, but police noticed that the deposit had gone in as cash through couriers and the refund came by bank transfer, and kept digging. They traced the money to a bank account of a company and found complaints about it on the national cybercrime portal from other states, as well as an older FIR with CID Crime, Gujarat, from September 2025.
• 2 September 2026: the FIR was registered after a policeman’s wife said she had lost Rs 10 lakh. The charges include cheating and criminal conspiracy under the BNS, the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, the Gujarat depositors’ protection law, the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes Act and the IT Act.
• September to October: arrests followed. Seven of the arrested men sought bail and a special court under the deposit-schemes law refused it, as reported. Other accused are said to be absconding.

The numbers, and where they differ

• Money: in early September, DeshGujarat reported about Rs 634 crore deposited through 15 bank accounts of seven companies, and All India Radio gave Rs 635 crore. By November, Indian Express reported that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had found 6,52,831 bank accounts moving Rs 1,211 crore through bank transactions, and said this covers only the banked money. The two figures measure different things at different dates, so we do not add them and do not call either one the “amount lost”.
• What victims report: early in October, 573 victims had told Amreli police of Rs 24.42 crore in losses. By 31 October the number was 876 victims and Rs 37.42 crore. This is what people have reported so far, and it is far below the transaction figures.
• Users: DeshGujarat reported more than 10 lakh downloads on the Google Play Store in September. The SIT figure in November is more than 15 lakh users.
• Arrests: DeshGujarat reported six arrests on 8 September; Indian Express reports five arrested on 2 September and two promoters caught on 12 September, and 12 in all by November. We have not named any accused.
• Companies and accounts: seven companies in one section of the Indian Express report and six in another. The420.in puts the bank accounts linked to six companies at 38 and the accounts of 16 directors at 72.

What is not known

• How much money can be recovered. The420.in reports Rs 1.86 crore seized so far; no other recovery figure has been reported.
• How much of the Rs 1,211 crore was investors’ own money going in, and how much was payouts or rotation going out. The police say cash handled by agents has left gaps in the records.
• Who among the many investors who earned referral commission knew what the scheme was. Police say they are still trying to separate victims from perpetrators.
• The result of the trial. No court has found anyone guilty.

Why this kind of scheme draws in ordinary people

The Indian Express report describes a Vadodara teacher who put in Rs 9.5 lakh from the sale of a flat in 2025. She told the paper that one of the men showed her a wallet and documents and, when she still hesitated, handed her a signed blank cheque so that she could trust him. Her wallet balance later showed about Rs 50 lakh, but she could not take any of it out. She had also brought in 31 people, family and colleagues, and later learnt that about 800 had joined through the chain. Police say victims ranged from farmers and teachers to bankers, and that one Surendranagar man took loans, including a gold loan, to invest. The accused, the report says, also used patriotic messaging and later claimed they were being targeted by competitors and the government. These are claims from the investigators and the victims quoted; none has been tested in court.

The pattern is familiar. A big number on a screen feels like money, early payouts build trust, and every happy investor becomes a salesperson for the next one. By the time the payouts stop, the people who were invited by friends and relatives stand between the scheme and its victims, as the reports say.

Live or work in Amreli? Our Amreli safety guide lists the emergency numbers, the 1930 cyber-crime helpline and the main flood and lightning risks.

Our guides on fake trading apps and WhatsApp stock groups, a Delhi reward-app network and a money-laundering network found through a digital-arrest case show how the same tools, mule accounts, fake apps and trust, are used elsewhere.

Warning signs and what to do

These are general safety steps, not findings about any individual investor.

• Fixed daily returns are a warning sign. Genuine investments do not promise 0.15 to 0.30 per cent every day, which compounds to a very large yearly return. A wallet or payment app that also pays interest is not a bank or a registered investment product.
• A balance on a screen is not money in your hands. Test the exit before putting in more: if you cannot withdraw the principal in your own bank account, stop.
• Be wary when pay depends on bringing in others. A commission ladder that pays on several levels of recruits, such as the one police describe here, is a classic multi-level scheme. Please do not recruit relatives, colleagues or friends, however good your own balance looks.
• Do not trust personal assurances. A signed blank cheque, a seminar, a video call or a polished office is not proof that your money is safe. Ask which regulator (RBI, SEBI, IRDAI or the state) has registered the entity and verify it yourself on the regulator’s website.
• Never borrow to invest in a high-return app, and do not take a gold loan or a personal loan to put money in.
• Do not accept shares or points in place of your money without checking what they are worth and whether the company is listed.
• If you have paid, report at once on the national helpline 1930 and at cybercrime.gov.in, tell your bank, and file a complaint at your local police station or cybercrime police station. Keep your screenshots, transaction receipts, chat messages and the app’s name. Beware of “refund” agents who contact you after a scam; they are often a second fraud. Our guide to reporting on 1930 and cybercrime.gov.in explains the steps.