Maharashtra pharmacy distributor loses Rs 6.7 crore in 6 months in stock investment app scam

KOLHAPUR: A 52-year-old wholesale pharmacy distributor from Karad lost Rs 6.7 crore to cybercriminals who promised shares and stocks at discounted rates and high returns on investments over the past six months, the police said.The alleged scam started with a WhatsApp message from an unknown person to Ajay Bhattad, the pharmacy distributor, asking him to download an app and make investments.On Sept 9, 2025, Ajay Bhattad, a pharma distributor and resident of Shaniwar Peth in Satara's Karad town, had gone to Jaysingpur in Kolhapur to meet his relative. While he was at his relative's place, he received a WhatsApp message with a link and voice calls from two numbers telling him about a share market investment plan. They told Bhattad to download a mobile application named SIG to get shares and stocks at a discounted price, and promised high returns on subsequent liquidation of shares."Initially, the victim got some returns. He went on to buy the shares and invest. They trapped him in their scam in such a way that he was buying the shares as recently as the first week of Feb. During verification, we found that the money was transferred through RTGS mode to 30 different accounts of both private and public banks, mostly with branches outside Maharashtra. The website floated by the scamsters is deceiving, and makes claims such as huge profits of Rs 333 crore being made to some investors," said Amol Thakur, the sub-divisional police officer of Jaysingpur division, who superintendent of police Yogeshkumar Gupta appointed for a thorough investigation.Gupta deputed some staff from the cyber police station to work under Thakur to get to the bottom of the scam. "It is an organised crime. We are reaching out to the banks so that we can stop further transfer of the invested funds to the mule accounts," said the investigation officer.A case was registered against the unknown people operating the SIG mobile app and the people associated with the two phone numbers through which the communication was made, under sections 318(4), 316(2), 3(5) of BNS 2023 and 66(D) of the Indian IT Act 2000.