📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Dietmar Rabich
Business
Indian investors lose ₹100 crore as Apple, Tesla, Nvidia shares sold without consent
✍️ Aaj Tak
🗓 04 Nov 2026, 07:00 PM
👁 2
A fraud scheme saw shares of Apple, Tesla and Nvidia held by Indian investors sold without their approval, replaced by shares of Chinese companies, resulting in an estimated loss of about ₹100 crore.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has flagged a large‑scale fraud that affected several Indian retail investors. According to the regulator, shares of Apple, Tesla and Nvidia that were held in investors' demat accounts were sold without any authorisation, and the proceeds were used to purchase equities of certain Chinese firms.
Preliminary calculations put the financial impact at roughly ₹100 crore, a figure derived from the market value of the original U.S. tech stocks that were disposed of. The investors, who had bought the shares through various brokerage platforms, reported that their holdings vanished from their statements, and replacement positions in unfamiliar Chinese companies appeared instead.
SEBI has issued a notice to the brokerage houses involved, seeking clarification on how the unauthorised transactions were executed. The regulator has also warned investors to verify transaction alerts and to report any discrepancies immediately. A forensic audit of the affected accounts is underway to trace the flow of funds and identify the perpetrators.
The incident adds to a growing list of cross‑border investment scams that have surfaced in recent months, prompting calls for tighter oversight of demat account security and stricter compliance checks for foreign‑stock trading services in India.
Preliminary calculations put the financial impact at roughly ₹100 crore, a figure derived from the market value of the original U.S. tech stocks that were disposed of. The investors, who had bought the shares through various brokerage platforms, reported that their holdings vanished from their statements, and replacement positions in unfamiliar Chinese companies appeared instead.
SEBI has issued a notice to the brokerage houses involved, seeking clarification on how the unauthorised transactions were executed. The regulator has also warned investors to verify transaction alerts and to report any discrepancies immediately. A forensic audit of the affected accounts is underway to trace the flow of funds and identify the perpetrators.
The incident adds to a growing list of cross‑border investment scams that have surfaced in recent months, prompting calls for tighter oversight of demat account security and stricter compliance checks for foreign‑stock trading services in India.