How to stop unsolicited stock-tip SMS and report them

Unsolicited stock-tip and guaranteed-return SMS are stopped through TRAI’s Do Not Disturb framework, reported to TRAI on 1909, and, where they offer investment advice, complained about to SEBI on SCORES . The first thing to be clear on: Zerodha does not send stock tips. It provides no advisory service, so a tip SMS or a guaranteed-return message that uses Zerodha’s name is impersonation or unrelated spam, never a genuine Zerodha communication, and acting on it is the start of a scam, not a trade.

This guide separates the two problems that arrive in the same inbox. A promotional tip SMS is unsolicited commercial communication, handled by blocking and reporting through TRAI. A fraudulent tip, one promising assured returns or impersonating a broker, is a scam, handled by reporting to the Chakshu fraud facility, to SEBI for the unregistered advice, and to the cybercrime helpline if money has moved. It walks each route with the exact codes, formats, and portals, and explains why a guaranteed-return promise is itself proof of illegality under SEBI’s rules.

Conflict-of-interest disclosure. This guide is published by the WebNotes Editorial Team for informational purposes and is written independently. WebNotes operates a Zerodha account-opening referral programme, disclosed on the pages that carry the referral link; this guide does not carry it and earns no referral commission from the procedure described here.

Step-by-step procedure

The numbered box at the top of this guide gives the full sequence. The detail below expands the TRAI codes, the fraud route, and the SEBI complaint.

1. Confirm the SMS is not from Zerodha

Zerodha’s genuine SMS traffic is transactional: order confirmations, margin-shortfall alerts, and similar account messages. It never includes a buy/sell tip or a return promise, because Zerodha gives no advisory and SEBI separates broking from advice. So a message giving a stock call or guaranteeing returns is not Zerodha, even when it carries the word Zerodha or a look-alike sender header. Do not act on it and do not click any link; the link is usually the payload, leading to a clone login page or a fraudulent payment screen.

2. Register your DND preference

Set Do Not Disturb on your number. SMS START 0 to 1909 for full DND, which blocks all promotional commercial communication, or START with category codes for partial DND if you want to keep some categories. To target financial spam specifically, SMS BLOCK 1 to 1909, which blocks banking, insurance, and financial-product commercial messages, the category most stock-tip spam rides on. DND is registered by your telecom operator and takes up to seven days to take full effect.

3. Use the TRAI DND app

Install TRAI’s DND app to manage all of this from the phone: set or change preferences, report spam, and track complaints. The app mirrors the 1909 SMS and call options in a clearer interface, and TRAI’s 2025 amendments route app complaints to faster resolution, typically within five working days.

4. Report a message you still receive

If a commercial SMS gets through despite DND, report it. Forward the message to 1909 within three days of receiving it, in the format UCC,XXXXXXXXX,dd/mm/yy, where XXXXXXXXX is the sender’s number or header and the date is when you received it. You do not need to have registered a preference first; TRAI now lets any subscriber complain about spam, with lowered thresholds for action. Under the February 2025 amendments, action against a sender triggers at five complaints in ten days, operators must act within five days against unregistered senders, and persistent senders face suspension and blacklisting.

5. Report a suspected fraud SMS

When the message is plainly fraudulent rather than merely promotional, a guaranteed-return offer, an impersonation, a link to a fake payment page, use the dedicated fraud route. Report fraudulent calls and messages received in the last 30 days on the Chakshu facility at sancharsathi.gov.in/sfc, the central government channel for suspected fraudulent communication. This is separate from the 1909 spam route and is the correct channel for a scam.

6. Complain to SEBI about an unregistered tip-giver

A sender giving stock tips or investment advice is, with very rare exceptions, operating without the SEBI registration that the SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations require. SEBI has long cautioned the public not to trade on tips and stock-specific recommendations received through SMS or social media from unregistered entities. File a complaint on SEBI SCORES at scores.sebi.gov.in with the sender details and the message content, so SEBI can act against the unregistered operator. This is the route that targets the source, not just the symptom.

7. Escalate a financial loss

If you acted on a tip and lost money, a fraudulent “advisory” fee, a transfer to a “managed account”, a fake IPO or allotment, treat it as live fraud. Report immediately on the national cybercrime helpline 1930 and at cybercrime.gov.in. The first hour matters most; a fraudulent transfer reported quickly can sometimes still be frozen in transit.

Why a guaranteed-return tip is proof of illegality

The single most useful filter is the return promise. SEBI strictly prohibits any registered adviser from promising fixed or assured returns, and no person may act as an investment adviser or research analyst without a SEBI certificate of registration. So a message guaranteeing returns, a fixed monthly percentage, a “100 per cent accurate” call, a “doubling” scheme, cannot come from a legitimate, registered source; the promise itself places the sender outside the law. SEBI reinforced this in February 2024, warning of unscrupulous entities and online platforms falsely claiming registration, showing fake SEBI certificates, and implying assured high returns, and stating that investments offering high returns usually carry high risk including fraud risk, with no guarantees of assured returns in the securities market. You do not need to evaluate the tip; the guarantee is the tell.

The two problems, kept separate

Treating spam and fraud as one problem sends complaints to the wrong place. The distinction is the sender’s intent and your exposure.

A promotional tip SMS is unsolicited commercial communication: annoying, often from a marketer cutting corners on the DLT registration system, but aimed at selling a service. The remedy is TRAI: DND to block, 1909 to report. The harm is nuisance.

A fraudulent tip is a scam: an unregistered operator or impersonator using the tip as bait to extract an advisory fee, a fund transfer, or a credential. The remedy is layered: Chakshu for the communication, SEBI SCORES for the unregistered advice, and 1930 for any money lost. The harm is financial. Many stock-tip messages are the second kind dressed as the first, which is why the guaranteed-return filter and the never-pay rule matter more than the spam-blocking.

How this fits broker-name impersonation

Stock-tip spam often borrows a real broker’s name for credibility, so the companion defences apply. Confirm channels rather than trust names: verify a call against the official list, verify an email by its domain, and check the official social media handles before trusting a “Zerodha” account. Know that Zerodha never solicits fund transfers to personal accounts, so a tip that ends in “send money to this account” is fraud on its face. The SEBI finfluencer action and the SEBI Check verification tool address the same unregistered-advice problem from the regulator’s side.

See also

• Zerodha
• How to verify a call from Zerodha
• How to verify a Zerodha email
• Zerodha official social media handles
• Does Zerodha solicit fund transfers?
• Zerodha cyber security
• Is Zerodha safe?
• Finfluencer SEBI ban and Zerodha referrals
• Zerodha SCORES
• Zerodha grievance redressal
• How to file an investor grievance with Zerodha
• Zerodha investor charter
• Investor protection
• How to create a Zerodha ticket
• Zerodha customer care number
• How to set up TOTP on Zerodha
• How to freeze and unfreeze a Zerodha demat account
• Zerodha trade SMS alerts
• Kite by Zerodha
• Zerodha Console
• How to add funds to Zerodha via UPI
• SEBI
• Investor charter
• CDSL

External references

• TRAI: Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) FAQs
• SEBI SCORES complaint portal
• SEBI investor education and caution against unauthorised entities
• Chakshu: report suspected fraud communication (Sanchar Saathi)
• National cybercrime reporting portal

References

1. TRAI (Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations), 2018, and the February 2025 amendments (DND registration, BLOCK and START codes on 1909, UCC complaint format, lowered thresholds, suspension and blacklisting of senders).
2. SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013, and SEBI (Research Analysts) Regulations, 2014 (registration mandatory; assured-return promises prohibited; caution against acting on tips from unregistered entities).
3. SEBI press release, caution against unscrupulous entities falsely claiming registration and promising assured returns, February 2024.
4. Department of Telecommunications, Chakshu facility on Sanchar Saathi for reporting suspected fraud communication.
5. Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, national cybercrime helpline 1930 and reporting portal cybercrime.gov.in.

WebNotes Editorial Team prepares factual how-to guides based on publicly available regulatory documents. WebNotes is not affiliated with Zerodha Broking Limited. Reporting channels and codes are subject to change; verify current procedures at trai.gov.in, scores.sebi.gov.in, and sancharsaathi.gov.in before acting.