Beware of investment scams in the name of Zerodha

The number of people falling for fake website and app scams is increasing day by day. Not a day goes by where someone doesn’t tell us they’ve lost money to these scams. The scale at which these scams operate is scary. These scams take advantage of the familiarity that you have with major brands, celebrities, and companies like ours. The tricks vary—fake apps, fake websites, fake social media profiles, scam calls—but all with the same goal: to steal your money.

At Zerodha we have discovered multiple such scams using our brand name. These scams work because they play with your emotions like hope, fear, and greed.

Here’s how one such scam works:

You can also watch this video in Hindi here.

1. You receive an invite to join a WhatsApp group where you see our founding members like our COO Venu Madhav or even our CEO Nithin Kamath as part of the group. The names and profile pictures of the group members all look real.
2. A professional video with our branding then appears from a “Zerodha employee”. They present an exclusive investment opportunity but say you need to create a special “institutional account” with Zerodha to invest.
3. The scammers then share official-looking documents with our company seal and signatures. They even provide a fake SEBI authorization letter to convince you their bank account is officially connected to Zerodha.
4. They give you a fake mobile app that looks exactly like our real app, complete with a fake document verification process that feels just like our real onboarding. They show daily updates of growing portfolio values along with fake IPO allotments and profits.
5. When you try to withdraw your “gains” for the first time, they ask you to pay a “service fee” for the supposed profits.

But it’s all fake—the profits, the portfolio, everything. By the time people realise this, it is too late. We have received hundreds of complaints about this scam, and hundreds of our customers have lost crores of rupees to these scams. We think thousands more have been scammed but haven’t reported it. And it’s not just Zerodha, these scammers are using the names of banks, payment apps, and other financial institutions.

If you ever come across these scams, here’s what you should do:

• Stop immediately and don’t transfer any money
• Report the scam by reaching out to us directly via our Support Portal by creating a ticket here
• Call the cybercrime helpline at 1930
• File a complaint on cybercrime.gov.in
• Remember, we will never ask you to transfer money to random bank accounts or pressure you into quick decisions

Never act in a hurry and always verify. Take your time to double-check everything, especially when money is involved. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Be extremely suspicious about everything.

If you’re seeing this post, you’re probably already aware of these scams, so please share this with your friends and family who might be more likely to fall for these scams. Help us spread the word and make more people aware of these scams and what they can do about them.