INVESTOR Awareness: The "Account Handling" Trap & Impersonation Scams

General
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We are seeing a rise in scammers on Telegram & WhatsApp approaching investors under names like “Gujarati Traders”. They request login details, offer “account management” services, and ask for upfront fees. Several clients reported being contacted on WhatsApp and Telegram by individuals claiming to be associated with “Gujarati Traders / Gujrati Traders”. These individuals offer “account management” services, promise fixed returns, collect fees, and ask for complete trading account credentials.

(Note: We cannot confirm whether these individuals are genuinely associated with “Gujarati Traders” or are illegally using and impersonating the brand name).

Why Sharing Credentials Is a Major Risk

Thinking your money is safe because your bank is linked? It is not. Fraudsters don’t need direct bank withdrawal access to drain your funds:

  • Fake Initial Profits: They may execute profitable trades early on to build trust and lure you into depositing more capital.
  • Non-Genuine Trades: Once trust is established, they place trades at prices far from fair market value, transferring your money to counterparty accounts as losses in your account.

Please Remember

  • Never Share Login Details: Keep passwords, 2FA PINs, and OTPs private. Your account must be operated only by you.
  • Reject Guaranteed Returns: Legitimate intermediaries never promise assured profits. Profit screenshots are easily faked.
  • Verify Intermediaries: Check registration status via official SEBI databases
  • (Registered Investment Advisers / Research Analysts) before trusting anyone.

Report Suspicious Activity

Do not engage further or delete evidence. Preserve all chat logs, phone numbers, payment receipts, and screenshots. Small details help build strong cases.

You can report suspicious activity directly to Zerodha or refer to the Zerodha Market Intelligence – Circulars page for ongoing investor cautionary notices.

Issued in the public interest for investor awareness,
Team Zerodha

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How do we know you are who you say you are?

And why exactly are you sharing an allegedly potential scammer’s telegram and phone number in your post?

@nithin_kumrr @siva

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Has Zerodha already reported the details of these entities (who contacted clients) to SEBI already?

Especailly since they appear to be violating SEBI guidelines that prohibit any registered entity (research analysts, investment advisers, portfolio managers, … ) by promising fixed returns, and unregistered entities are prohibited from advising/managing clients.

Posting about it without accidentally sharing their details sounds fine.
However the nature of the Dicourse forum software (and how it is configured on this forum) is that the previous versions of posts (before edits) will continue to be accessible (orange pencil button on the edited original post).

@Divya_C Perhaps best to delete this topic-thread
and repost a new topic-thread avoiding all such details.

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Now that she’s a mod(is she? She has a Zerodha badge now that wasn’t there previously), pretty sure she can erase that history completely.

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That is edited out now, she is from Zerodha.

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