Beware of fraudsters posing as Sebi officers!

Some of them are selling fraudulent investment schemes and promising gifts and bonus payouts in return

To take investors for a ride, some scamsters have begun posing as officers from the markets watchdog Sebi to sell their fraudulent investment schemes and are even promising gifts and bonus payouts in return.

These fraudulent schemes have, however, already come to the notice of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the regulator has cautioned the investors and the general public against such scams and frauds.

It also said that Sebi was a regulatory body, which was established to protect the interest of the small investors and to regulate and promote the capital markets, and it does not "involve directly or indirectly in dealing with any kind of financial product or insurance policy".

Sebi, which has intensified its clampdown on various kinds of schemes aimed at defrauding gullible investors, has also urged the general public to immediate report the matter to the police to take the miscreants to the task.

"If anybody notices such instances, he or she may lodge a police complaint, along with the details of the caller and telephone number from which the call was received, in the local police station," Sebi said in a public notice.

The regulator said that "it has come to the notice of Sebi that certain unidentified persons posing as Sebi officials are advising public to invest in insurance policy/financial products to avail bonus, gifts, promotional offers or other such offers".

It urged "the public to remain alert and not to fall prey to such frauds or scams perpetrated by miscreants who impersonate as employees or officers of Sebi".

In the past, there have been cases of fraudsters posing as officers from insurance regulator IRDAI, or as officials of banking watchdog RBI, to lure investors, prompting these regulators as well to issue caution notices in this regard.

Sebi has taken action against various entities engaged in luring investors through SMSes and phone calls to their fraudulent schemes with a promise of high returns, while a few other such cases are currently being probed.

Concerned over a large number of unlisted firms fraudulently raising money from public, market regulator last week also warned such companies and their directors of "stringent action", while it asked investors not to be lured by their schemes.

The regulator said that it has taken action against 112 such entities, since January 2013 for issuance of non-convertible preference shares (NPS) or non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to public without complying with the Sebi regulations.

Such securities were issued without complying with the prescribed Companies Act and Sebi norms. In 2015 so far, Sebi has passed orders against over 50 companies in such cases.