Is Your Stock Guru Real? SEBI’s New AI ‘Check’ Tool Fights WhatsApp Scams

Following a major enforcement push on February 13, SEBI’s AI-driven campaign and the ‘SEBI Check’ tool have become the primary defense for Indian investors against “fin-fluencer” fraud and “Pump and Dump” schemes.

The Digital Guardrail: SEBI’s 2026 Enforcement Strike

As of this week, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has shifted from passive regulation to active defense. Following the milestone launch on February 13, 2026, SEBI is now scaling its multilingual AI-driven calling campaign (originated only from the verified number 1600-313-384). Developed in collaboration with Sarvam AI, these calls are designed to guide investors toward the “SEBI Check” Tool, a real-time portal to verify if a “financial expert,” QR code, or UPI handle is actually a SEBI-registered entity.

This move follows a massive wave of Adjudication Orders targeting Illiquid Stock Options (ISO) manipulation on the BSE. SEBI has begun aggressively freezing demat accounts and issuing Recovery Certificates (some linked to cases as old as 2014) to claw back dues from market manipulators. To simplify safety, the regulator has introduced Validated UPI handles (ending in suffixes like .brk@valid for brokers or .mf@valid for mutual funds) featuring a visual “thumbs-up inside a green triangle” icon. This sets a new global benchmark for investor protection, ensuring that even first-time investors in rural “Bharat” can distinguish legitimate advisors from the unregulated “WhatsApp gurus” currently flooding the market.

Trivia: SEBI’s AI campaign is a global first; it uses Generative AI to converse in over 10 Indian regional languages, ensuring that regulatory protection is no longer limited by a language barrier.

UDHQ Take: Why This Changes Your Investing Life At Unbox Daily HQ (UDHQ), we believe the biggest barrier to your wealth isn’t a market crash, it’s the “noise” created by predatory scammers. SEBI’s latest move brings radical transparency to your phone by effectively providing you with a digital “bullshit meter” for financial advice. By using the SEBI Check Portal, you can now verify a tip-giver’s credentials as easily as you check a WhatsApp message, saving you from “Pump and Dump” traps that often lead to 70-80% capital erosion in a single day. This institutional-grade safety, now integrated directly into the Saa₹thi 2.0 app, levels the playing field for the small investor by removing the guesswork and forcing accountability in an industry that was wild for too long. In 2026, the difference between building a legacy and losing your savings is a single verification step; don’t leave your portfolio’s safety to luck when the law has finally given you a shield.

Source: SEBI