FINANCIAL FRAUD AWARENESS
The scam usually arrives as a friendly invitation.
SEBI has warned investors about entities using social media to lure and deceive people in the securities market. If you have already sent money to someone, report it now — the first few hours matter most.
HOW THEY OPERATE
Four tactics you will recognise
Social media has changed how we connect and share information. Some entities exploit that to gain the trust of investors who have done nothing wrong except answer a message.
Unsolicited invitations
Links to join WhatsApp groups — “VIP groups”, “free trading courses” — sent to people who never asked for them, to entice prospective clients.
Fake profiles
Fraudulent accounts built to present the holder as an expert in the securities market, often with borrowed credentials and stock photos.
Impersonation
Posing as SEBI-registered intermediaries, well-known public figures, celebrities, or the CEOs and MDs of established organisations.
Fake testimonials
Fabricated screenshots of enormous profits, supposedly from other group members, used to get funds transferred into the entity’s bank account on a promise of similar returns.
Investors are urged to be cautious, not to trust unsolicited messages from unverified individuals, and to avoid joining questionable WhatsApp groups or communities.
SEBI GUIDELINES FOR INVESTORS
Three rules that prevent most of it
None of these take more than a minute, and each one closes off a route the fraud depends on.
- Engage only with SEBI-registered intermediaries Verify the registration status of any entity before making an investment, on the SEBI list of intermediaries. Use authentic trading apps only.
- Transact only through official apps Carry out transactions solely through the official trading apps of SEBI-registered intermediaries, found via SEBI Investor Support.
- Communicate only through genuine handles Talk to a registered entity only on the social media handles and contact details published on the SEBI portal — not on a handle someone sent you.
SEBI has released this guidance to alert investors to widespread fraud and scams perpetrated by unscrupulous entities, and to show how to stay protected while engaging in the securities market through SEBI-registered intermediaries.
SIX STEPS BEFORE YOU PAY ANYONE
Check the analyst, not the message
Start from SEBI’s own register and work outwards. Never start from the contact details someone sent you — that is precisely what an impersonator controls.
- Search the name on SEBI Look up the research analyst on the SEBI official register.
- Take the contact details from there Note the email address and phone number listed against that registration on the SEBI portal.
- Write to that address only Communicate about products and services exclusively through the email address published on the SEBI portal.
- Check who replies If the reply comes from the same email address, you are dealing with a genuine SEBI-registered professional.
- Verify before paying Always pay after verifying on SEBI Check, to an @valid UPI ID, or through the Centralized Fee Collection Mechanism (CeFCoM).
- Walk away if anything differs If they reply from a different address, refuse to give details, or refuse @valid UPI and CeFCoM for payment — disregard the communication. They may be impersonators.
A genuine registered analyst will never mind you checking. Someone who resists verification has told you everything you need to know.
OUR OWN DETAILS, FOR CROSS-CHECKING
Run the same check on us
These are the details filed with SEBI. If anyone contacts you claiming to be Samarth Trade from anything other than these, it is not us.
- Registered name
- Arvind Maruti Desai, Proprietor of Samarth Trade
- SEBI RA registration no.
- INH000028060
- BSE enlistment no.
- 7253
- Website
- www.samarthtrade.com
- Official email
- samarthtraderesearch@gmail.com
- Official phone
- +91 75887 75228
We will never ask for your trading, demat or bank login credentials, or an OTP. We will never promise assured or guaranteed returns. We will never ask you to pay into a personal account or accept cash. If someone using our name does any of these, they are impersonating us — report it, and tell us.
REPORTING FINANCIAL FRAUD
If it has already happened
Report it immediately — recovery chances fall sharply with time. You do not need proof of who did it to file a complaint.
1930 National Cybercrime Helpline — call this first for online financial fraud, before filing online. The faster the report, the better the chance of freezing the transfer.