Fake mobile applications are now a serious threat and cause irreparable financial harm to investors, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), said. “Investors are convinced to install apps that closely resemble those of Sebi-registered intermediaries…When trust is damaged, investor participation in market development suffers,” he said while speaking at the launch of the Verified App Label initiative.
More than 1.3 lakh misleading investment-related content have been escalated to be taken down by respective digital platforms. Around 66 fake trading apps were also taken down by app stores, Pandey said.
Verification Roadmap
A verified badge has been rolled out for over 600 mobile applications of Sebi-registered stock brokers on Google play store. In due course, this will be extended to other intermediaries, such as online bond platforms, registered advisors, and research analysts.
The chairman said that Sebi has requested Google to utilize their AI tools to ensure that financial influencers transgressing regulations do not survive in cyberspace. “We will look for better association with Google to increase investor awareness,” Sebi Whole-Time Member (WTM) Sandip Pradhan said.
The collaboration with Google will likely motivate other players such as Apple and “we are quite confident that it will also happen very soon,” WTM Kamlesh Chandra Varshney said.
Beyond the App Store
Sebi will be signing memorandums of understanding with the government to tackle digital fraud. The regulator is also working to curb side-loading, which pose serious risks as these applications are installed through third-party links and not via official app stores.