The Securities and Exchange Board of India on 22 October issued a public caution about unregistered operators offering stock tips and trading calls through invitation-only WhatsApp groups. The release, PR No. 65/2026, describes a specific fraud pattern: operators who pose as market experts, “mostly using overseas WhatsApp numbers”, supported by group members who post fake profit claims to make the calls look credible. It follows a 1 October circular that requires stock brokers to display SEBI’s investor awareness messages on their websites and, from 1 November, on their trading apps.
SEBI names the technique
The release is more specific than a general scam warning. SEBI says certain members, “acting in concert with the operators, post false claims of profit and praise the ‘expert’.” It calls this practice astroturfing, which it says “creates a false impression of genuine support and induces unsuspecting investors to act on the calls.”
The operators present the calls as investor education, and SEBI describes the buy and sell calls they share as unauthorised. SEBI does not say how many groups or investors it has identified, or what losses are involved. The overseas numbers matter for enforcement: an operator outside India is harder for SEBI or Indian police to identify and pursue, and SEBI’s main remaining tool is to make the scheme recognisable to the people it targets.
The “banned group” message is the tell
SEBI also describes what happens when a group is shut down. After enforcement agencies or regulators act and the group is suspended, members typically receive a message from a new number inviting them to a replacement group. SEBI quotes an example:
Due to Social Media Platform’s risk control measures, our previous group has been banned. This new group will provide daily recommendations of quality stock information and trading guidance. Please join the group.
Example message quoted by SEBI, PR No. 65/2026, 22 October 2026
Publishing the text gives investors something to match against. It also shows that takedowns alone do not end these schemes: the operators can still reach the same members from a new number and rebuild the group.
The advice to investors
SEBI tells investors to:
- stay out of invitation-only WhatsApp groups run by unknown persons or self-described market experts, particularly those using overseas numbers, and not act on their tips
- ignore praise, profit claims or trade confirmations from other members, which may be planted
- treat any message saying a group was suspended, closed or banned, with an invitation to a new one, as a red flag, and leave
- not open accounts on, or send money to, any trading platform or app suggested in such groups, and not share holdings or account details
- deal only with SEBI-registered intermediaries and authentic trading apps
The fourth point is where losses occur. A tip on its own costs an investor nothing until they act on it through an account. Fraudulent “trading platforms” recommended inside the groups are where money leaves the investor’s control. SEBI points investors to its intermediary register to check registration and to its investor portal to check the trading apps of registered intermediaries.
Brokers now carry SEBI’s messages
The 22 October caution sits alongside a circular SEBI issued on 1 October under Project Jagrook, its nationwide investor awareness initiative, ahead of World Investor Week 2026. It requires all stock brokers to prominently display investor awareness messages supplied by SEBI.
The rollout has two phases:
- from 5 to 31 October 2026, brokers must show the messages and the existing risk disclosures on their websites, and may show the messages on their trading apps voluntarily
- from 1 November 2026, brokers must show the messages on the landing page of their websites, and show the messages and the risk disclosures on alternate days on the landing page of their trading apps
SEBI may change the messages from time to time, and stock exchanges and depositories must also display them and amend their bye-laws. The circular builds on SEBI’s May 2023 circular that requires brokers to show risk disclosures to clients.
The trading app landing page is valuable space for a broker. SEBI’s decision to claim part of it on alternate days gives the regulator a direct channel to the people who use those apps to trade, including investors who might act on a tip from a WhatsApp group. Brokers will want to see how often the messages change and how much screen space they take.
What to watch
- Investor awareness messages on broker apps from 1 November 2026.
- Any SEBI or exchange action against named WhatsApp operators or the platforms they promote.
- Further SEBI guidance on social media platforms’ role in removing such groups.
Primary sources
- SEBI, Caution to Investors against Stock Tips offered through Invitation-only WhatsApp Groups, PR No. 65/2026, 22 October 2026
- SEBI, Display of “investor awareness message(s)” by stock brokers on their trading apps and websites, under Project Jagrook, 1 October 2026
Photo (cropped): Jimmy vikas, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
