₹100 Crore in Stockal Accounts Allegedly Lost After Unapproved Trades

About 300,000 shares in a little-known Chinese company appeared in one investor’s account after his Apple, Tesla and other US shares were sold. He says he never approved the trades. Nearly 30 Indian investors have made similar claims against Stockal Securities, a financial technology platform, with reported losses topping ₹100 crore. Stockal says the matter is under investigation. ^1,2

The reported trades took place on October 15. One investor told Moneycontrol that 10 investments, including shares in Amazon, Alphabet, Nvidia and AMD, were sold for $335,768. The money was then used to buy Zhibao Technology shares at an average of $1.05 each. Zhibao’s price later fell nearly 60%, closing at $0.42 on October 23. The investor estimated his loss at $450,000, or about ₹4.26 crore, and said he received no usual trade alerts. ^2,4

Those missing alerts matter because investors say they did not choose to swap established US companies for a thinly traded stock that quickly plunged. Another investor claimed that $3.1 million in investments was sold and replaced with 30.5 lakh shares. The ₹100 crore figure is an early estimate, based on information from two investors. The full losses are not yet known. Stockal’s US broker, DriveWealth, is also part of a dispute over where the security failure occurred and who should take responsibility. ^2,3

Responsibility remains unsettled, and reports describe both a Bengaluru police FIR and complaints to regulators. One investor has approached India’s Securities and Exchange Board of India and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Affected investors can also complain to Stockal and, if needed, use SEBI’s SCORES portal. Stockal’s investigation must now establish how the trades happened, while investors seek explanations and compensation. ^3,4