Tuhin Kanta Pandey, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), cautioned that while technology has simplified investing, it has also armed fraudsters with tools to exploit investors through misleading apps, social media scams, and questionable online “finfluencers.” Speaking at the launch of World Investor Week 2025 at the National Stock Exchange, Pandey stated, “Unsolicited messages, dubious influencers, and fake trading apps and websites promise the one thing our markets can never offer — guaranteed returns.”
According to SEBI’s latest investor survey conducted in 2025, there exists a significant gap between awareness and actual participation in the securities market. The survey, which examined over 90,000 households, revealed that 63 percent of Indian households are aware of at least one securities market product, yet only 9.5 percent, equivalent to around 32 million households, actively invest. Moreover, merely 36 percent of those investing have moderate to high knowledge of the markets.
Pandey highlighted this knowledge gap as a vulnerability, making investors more susceptible to fraud. “This knowledge gap is a vulnerability that exposes our investors to risks and makes them susceptible to fraud,” he emphasized, noting that SEBI is leveraging data-driven insights to tailor targeted interventions.
The week-long campaign, themed “Fraud and Scams Prevention and Basics of Investing,” is part of a broader initiative by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) aimed at promoting investor education and protection.
He urged investors to “verify, don’t trust blindly,” and warned against speculative trading, clarifying that derivatives are “meant for hedging and risk management, not for quick gains.” Encouragingly, the SEBI survey indicated that 22 percent of aware non-investors intend to commence investing within the next year. “Our responsibility will be to empower these new investors with fundamental knowledge as their first line of defense against frauds and scams,” Pandey remarked.
To address scams, SEBI has rolled out a Validated UPI Handle mechanism, enabling investors to confirm payments to registered intermediaries via a verified “@valid” UPI ID marked with a thumbs-up icon. The regulator has also introduced a ‘SEBI Check’ verification tool and upgraded its Saa₹thi app, which now includes features such as “Spot a Scam” and multilingual investor education modules.
Published on October 6, 2025.
