Fraudsters impersonate FYERS and its founder to run illegal PMSes, WhatsApp advisories

"It's concerning to see scams evolving in such innovative and bizarre ways that they're not immediately recognisable to an unsuspecting investor," said Tejas Khoday to Moneycontrol

"We're intensifying our fight against these deceptive practices by reporting incidences to authorities, heavily investing in cybersecurity and raising investor awareness. I encourage our community to stay alert and verify the authenticity from random persons claiming to be associated with FYERS. Ensuring the safety of our investors and the integrity of our platform remains our utmost priority," he added.

Also read: Fake It Till You Make It: Shady Zerodha lookalikes peddle bogus P&L statements

There are apps and social-media groups that have been impersonating other brokerages.

Moneycontrol had written about apps that clone Zerodha's user interface and help finfluencers make fake profit-and-loss (P&L) statements of their trading account, which they then use to sell their courses and illegal PMS-es.

Telegram channels sell these apps, which can help a user generate a fake P&L statement for a "lifetime" fee ranging from a few hundred bucks to Rs 1,500. Some offer a demo for Rs 99.

One of the channels, which goes by the name Zerodha Fake Profit App – Zerodha Clone App, promises that it can even generate statements from live prices to make it look more realistic. This can help fraudsters avoid embarrassing mistakes like giving wrong lot sizes or price levels.

There are also Telegram groups that use leading brokerages names to sell stock tips and illegal PMS services. They don't shy away from making outrageous claims. In one of the groups, which claims that it is being run by a leading brokerage, says that by joining one of their investment plans, a person can make three times their capital in an hour.