Bogus Stocks Tips providers, Trainers, mentors etc rake in big bucks from novice investors & traders

There is a deluge of new investors and traders into Dalal Street. The newbies are mesmerized by the screenshots of alleged massive gains posted by some traders (see Mom And Pop Traders Throng Dalal Street, Enticed By Screenshots Of Massive Earnings Of Other Traders).

Nithin Kamath, the visionary Billionaire founder of Zerodha, confirmed that "Account openings are going through the roof" and that he is seeing this happen for the first time in his long and distinguished career.



A trader claimed a few days ago that he made a mind-boggling gain of Rs. 10.50 crore in just two days (Trader On Dalal Street Stuns By Making Record-Breaking Gain Of Rs. 10.50 Crore In Only 2 Days).

Naturally, this has created a frenzy amongst novices who are also eager to cash in on the bonanza and they are willing to pay large sums of money for stock tips, training and so-called 'mentor-ship'.

Pravin Meshram was one of the many who decided to cash in on the bonanza. He set up an outfit named "Money Plus Research Advisory & Financial Services" and offered stock tips to gullible people.

He falsely claimed that his outfit was a "ISO 9001 - 2008" certified and registered with SEBI (Securities & Exchange Board of India) under the SEBI (Investment Adviser) Regulations, 2013 as an Investment Adviser.

He also claimed that his team is "highly skilled, experienced and dedicated" and makes efforts to provide "more & more profit to our clients in every trade and to provide excellent financial planning".

The packages were also given fancy names such as Morning Shiners (Cash), M2F Positional, Big Boys, HNI Intraday Bazooka etc.

The 'HNI Intraday Bazooka' cost a whopping Rs. 4 lakh for an annual package.



However, despite the steep charges, there were no dearth of takers.

Money Plus collected a handsome sum of Rs. 53,85,223 from the public.

SEBI was shocked to learn that neither Pravin Meshram nor his "Money Plus Research Advisory" were registered as investment advisors.

"I note from the contents of website that the Noticee has claimed to be a SEBI registered Investment Adviser, which in fact is not the case. Thus, I find that, the Noticee is not only knowingly concealing the fact that it is not registered with SEBI as an investment advisor but also making a false representation that it is registered with SEBI as Investment Adviser, thereby luring and inducing investors to deal in securities by availing its services," Ananta Barua, the Whole Time Member of SEBI, observed.

He also held that the representations made by the noticees are misleading and deceptive activities and are covered within the definition of “fraud” defined under Regulation 2(1)(c) of the PFUTP Regulations.

Pravin Meshram and Money Plus were directed, within a period of three months from the date of the order, to refund the money received from the clients/investors, as fees or consideration or in any other form, in respect of their unregistered investment advisory activities.

They were also directed to issue public notice in all editions of two National Dailies (one English and one Hindi) and in one local daily with wide circulation, detailing the modalities for refund, including the details of contact person such as names, addresses and contact details, within 15 days of coming into force of the Order.

Certain other consequential directives such as freezing the bank accounts and share holdings of the noticees have also been given by SEBI.

Click here to download SEBI's order