
Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath Warns of ₹11,000 Crore Loss from Online Scams
The recent emerging evil of India is cyber fraud, of which Nithin Kamath, the co-founder and CEO of Zerodha, recently highlighted that the potential loss can be up to ₹ 11,000 crore per annum. Kamath’s remarks have been said as a rude wake-up call to the perennially increasing attacks of cyber fraudsters on unsuspecting individuals, particularly financial institutions.
The Warning
In a post on the social media platform early this week, Kamath was able to demonstrate how phishing assaults, fake trading platforms, and other gimmicks are defrauding millions. “Cyber frauds have assumed the proportion of an unsuspected pandemic considered the new wave of multiplicity of online transactions,” he observed. Kamath also encouraged users to be cautious and to transact only on credible platforms.
How Scammers Operate
The schemes typically involve:
- Fake trading apps: Scammers offer potential investors high returns with the aim of making them invest in their obviously fake projects.
- Phishing Emails and Links: Users receive messages from friendly sources to share sensitive login credentials, especially passwords.
- Social Media Scams: The various fake accounts pretending to be either advisors or brokers to unsuspecting citizens.
Zerodha’s Response
In response to such threats, India-based one of the largest stockbroking firms, Zerodha, has adopted higher security measures. The company has:
- Set up the master-admin and sub-admin features for all the accounts and enabled 2-factor authentication for them.
- Encouraged users should stay away from apps or brokers that are not verified.
- Regularly cooperated with the authorities regarding detecting and reporting fraud.
Why This Matters
The grotesque size of such frauds has led to increased demands for increased regulatory scrutiny of the digital finance industry. Kamath has also stressed the aspect of financial illiteracy to fully enable users to be able to identify such issues and prevent themselves from falling prey to fraudsters.
A Call to Action
Quite rightly, Kamath has put forward not only a word of advice but a warning bell for the individuals as well as the regulators. As the digital economy in India is rapidly expanding, fighting fraud has become a paramount issue. As with most things in life, if you are in any doubt as to the validity of an email, do not click on the link, do not forward it, and do not open the attachment—it is all too often a scam!