Sebi Warns of Fake Apps, Urges Tech Collaboration

Mumbai, Mar 25 (PTI) Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Wednesday termed fake applications a "serious threat" and urged technology firms like Google and Meta to work with financial regulators for investor protection.

Pandey said the next wave of a surge in investor participation is upon us soon, and underlined the need to protect the trust of all the stakeholders in the market.

The number of unique Indian investors has touched 140 million, and the overall market capitalisation has crossed Rs 423 lakh crore, Pandey said, while speaking at an event to launch the verified app label initiative in association with Google here.

"Fake apps are now a serious threat and can cause irreparable financial harm," Pandey said, stressing that Sebi's approach has been to build checks before any harm is caused.

"Regulators, intermediaries and big tech must work together as investor protection is a shared responsibility," he added.


Sebi has taken down over 1.3 lakh pages of content on various platforms and also 66 fake trading apps after sensing that they would cause harm to investors, he said.

The initiative launched on Wednesday will ensure that apps on Google's Play Store have a verified badge, and a user can safely transact after seeing the badge, Pandey added.

He said the initiative is starting with 600 apps of stock brokers, and added that other intermediaries, including registered investment advisors and online bond platforms, will be added in due course.

The verified badge initiative is a pioneering effort, and other jurisdictions in the rest of the world will follow this, Pandey said.

On their part, investors should adopt a strategy of "pause, verify and proceed" in order to safeguard their own interests, the Sebi chairman said.

Speaking at the same event, Sebi's whole-time member KC Varshney said we need to work out ways of ensuring that app stores do not host the wrongful apps at all.