Google to help SEBI tackle fake apps as finfluencer rules tighten

In a significant step to curb rising fraud in the investment ecosystem, Securities and Exchange Board of India has partnered with Google to introduce a ‘Verified’ label for stock trading applications on Google Play Store, even as the market grapples with a parallel clean-up of unregulated finfluencer activity.

The move comes amid a surge in fraudulent trading apps that mimic legitimate platforms and mislead retail investors into routing funds outside the regulated securities market. Under the new framework, stock trading apps offered by SEBI-registered entities will now carry a visible ‘Verified’ badge on the Play Store, allowing users to distinguish genuine platforms from deceptive clones.

SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the initiative is a critical layer of investor protection in an increasingly digital investment landscape. She urged investors to adopt a verification-first approach through what she described as the ‘CVV’ principle. This includes checking bank accounts via SEBI’s Saathi app, validating UPI IDs carrying the word “Valid”, and verifying app authenticity through the newly introduced label.

“This collaboration represents a major breakthrough in our ongoing battle against bad actors in the investment space,” Buch said, adding that the regulator will gradually extend the Verified tag to other categories of regulated intermediaries.

From Google’s side, Aditya Swamy, Managing Director for Google Play in India, described the initiative as a unique public private partnership aimed at strengthening investor trust. He said the company is keen to deepen such collaborations to enhance user safety across financial services.

The timing of the move is notable, coinciding with heightened regulatory scrutiny of financial influencers, or finfluencers, whose unchecked growth had begun to blur the lines between education and unregistered investment advice. Market participants say the dual push, platform verification and influencer regulation, signals a broader attempt to restore credibility in India’s retail investing boom.

Amit Relan, CEO and Co-founder of mFilterIt, said, “While verified badges for investment apps are a step in the right direction, they address only a fraction of the risks investors face today. The real threat is no longer limited to fake apps; it lies in the growing volume of misleading claims amplified through influencers and social platforms. With AI enabling hyper-realistic content at scale, even compliant apps can be promoted in ways that distort reality and mislead investors. This is where the industry needs to rethink its approach. Safeguarding investors now requires continuous, cross-platform monitoring, not just of who is verified, but also of how they are represented and promoted in real time. Without this layer of oversight, trust can be easily manufactured and just as easily exploited.”

Ayush Shukla, Founder of Finnet Media, said the regulatory tightening has already triggered a sharp reset in the creator economy. “SEBI regulating finfluencers is the best thing to happen to India’s creator economy in the last five years,” he said, noting that brand deals for financial creators have dropped between 40 and 60 per cent since the rules came into effect.

Shukla pointed to a series of enforcement actions against prominent names such as Avadhut Sathe, PR Sundar and entities like Baap of Chart as evidence that regulatory action is targeting systemic issues rather than isolated violations. According to him, such actions were necessary to rebuild trust that had been eroded by misleading claims and unverified advice.

“When one finfluencer burns a follower’s savings, the distrust extends to the entire ecosystem,” he said. “What we are seeing now is short-term pain, but it will lead to a more professional and credible market.”

He added that the next phase of growth will favour creators with genuine expertise, regulatory alignment and audiences built on insight rather than sensationalism. Financial institutions such as HDFC Bank, Zerodha and Groww are likely to increasingly partner with compliant creators who meet these standards.

At the same time, Shukla flagged emerging concerns around inflated social media metrics in brand collaborations, particularly within BFSI campaigns. 

“There’s a new scam creators are pulling with brands right now and most people aren’t even noticing it. In a recent BFSI campaign, we worked with a creator whose reel clocked over 150,000 views, but the skip rate was above 90 per cent and the average watch time was under two seconds. This clearly suggests artificial amplification through meme pages, shares or network pushes, where content that would organically reach 5,000 to 10,000 users ends up showing inflated view counts of over a lakh.

This highlights a larger issue in influencer marketing. Views in isolation no longer matter and should not be the primary metric for optimisation. What brands need to focus on instead are average view duration and skip rate. If a 60-second video is not even being watched for five seconds, the content is ineffective and brand integrations are not being seen. Similarly, a high skip rate indicates that only a small fraction of viewers are engaging meaningfully, while the majority drop off within the first few seconds.”

Taken together, the Verified app initiative and the tightening grip on finfluencers point to a structural shift in India’s digital investment ecosystem. As regulators, platforms and market participants align, the emphasis appears to be moving decisively from scale to trust.