The capital market regulator cracked down on financial inlfuencers and websites for misleading investors with false information on stock markets banning 15,000 online sites and influencers in 2024.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) ordered the ban on over 15,000 content sites and several financial influencers imposing heavy penalties for allegedly deceiving investors in putting their hard-earned money at risk by providing false investment advice on social media.
The market regulator took stringent action against several individuals, including Ravindra Balu Bharti and Nasiruddin Ansari, for misleading investors amongst many other financial investments influencers.
While Ansari, active on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) under the alias ‘Baap of Chart,’ had been recommending stock trades.
The market watchdog ordered Ansari and his associates to open an escrow account and deposit Rs 17 crore to be used for reimbursement of investors who lost their savings using his misleading investment advise.
In addition, Ansari was fined Rs 20 lakh, while Tabrez Abdullah, Wani, and their associates were each fined Rs 2 lakh.
Another set of investment advisors and influencers Shubhangi Ravindra Bharti, Rahul Anant Gosavi, and Dhanashri Chandrakant Giri were banned from participating in the stock market.
According to SEBI probe, the unregistered financial influencers posted investment advise on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Telegram groups providing stock market tips and recommendations misleading their followers to invest in penny stocks promising high returns.
The probe revealed the surreptitious role of the financial influencers to promote particular stocks by taking money from companies for personal benefit for recommending their stocks in return.
The illegal practise misled investors and led to a surge in stock prices in the market which later crashed causing huge losses to the investors trusting the influencers in putting their hard earned savings in the penny stocks.
