“We have also requested Google to actively take up their own AI measures, and we will help them develop it so they can track those influencers who transgress our regulations,” Sebi chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said at the launch of the verified app label initiative.
“We must develop tools according to our laws and regulations which will help kick such people out of the cyber space, which they are destroying through social media platforms and creating so much of a problem for the community,” he said.
The regulator is actively monitoring digital platforms for misleading investment-related content.
“More than 1.3 lakh instances of such content have been escalated to platforms for takedown. Around 66 cases of fake trading apps have been flagged to app stores and taken down,” the Sebi chief said.
He added that an API-based framework is in place to ensure that only verified, registered intermediaries can run advertisements on platforms such as Google and Meta.
On Wednesday, Sebi, in collaboration with Google, launched a verified badge on Google Play for stock trading apps offered by Sebi-registered entities. “The proliferation of fraudulent trading apps has posed a serious threat to retail investors, with scammers impersonating genuine apps that eventually deceive gullible investors into believing that their investments made through such fake apps are directed to the regulated securities market,” Sebi said in a statement.
Currently, over 600 apps have been verified, and the facility will soon be extended to apps of other intermediaries. “Today, for many investors, the market begins on a screen. It begins with an app. But where access becomes digital, so does the risk. Fake apps are now a serious threat and can cause irreparable financial harm,” Pandey said.
“The fraud is simple. Fraudsters lure investors with promises of assured returns. Investors are convinced to install apps that closely resemble those of Sebi-registered intermediaries. By the time suspicion arises, investors have already lost their money.” Sebi will also sign a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to strengthen action against cyber fraud.