HDFC Securities takes on investment scams with ‘Kya Aap Taiyyar Ho?’

New Delhi: HDFC Securities has launched ‘Kya Aap Taiyyar Ho?’, a nationwide fraud awareness initiative under its #KnowYourMoney programme, which focuses on improving financial literacy and investor resilience across India.

The campaign, part of the company’s CSR efforts, addresses the growing threat of investment scams through a mix of storytelling, digital engagement, and community education.

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari, known for Dangal, Chhichhore, and the upcoming Ramayana, the campaign features the ‘Fraudster Family’, a set of characters depicting the tactics of modern scammers. The cast includes Manoj Pahwa, Bhuvan Arora, Sapna Sand, Shrikant Verma, Nutan Surya, Simran Shah, and Siddhant.

“When you see families losing their hard-earned savings to fraud, you realise awareness isn’t optional. It’s essential,” said Tiwari. 

“Through our association with HDFC Securities’ #KnowYourMoney initiative, we’re using storytelling to help India escape the traps of investment frauds. This campaign is about empowering every investor to stay informed, stay ahead of the curve, and protect what they’ve built. Because in a fast-moving financial world, knowledge is the real safety net.”

The #KnowYourMoney initiative, introduced earlier this year, includes digital learning modules and on-ground workshops that cover topics such as banking, budgeting, retirement planning, and fraud prevention. 

The platform has reached around 1.1 crore people each week through multilingual content and community-based programmes, offering gamified financial literacy tools in 13 Indian languages.

Puneeth Bekal, EVP & CMO at HDFC Securities, said, “Investment fraud has evolved in scale and sophistication, and the only sustainable defence is awareness. Through #KnowYourMoney and ‘Kya Aap Taiyyar Ho?’, we are creating a movement that enables Indians not only to secure their money but also to take well-informed financial decisions.”

He added, “The campaign leverages the power of entertainment in sparking learning and curiosity and putting the power of prevention in people’s own hands. Staying true to our 25-year legacy, this is an ongoing effort to guide our investors to invest responsibly. This is not just a campaign; it's a movement toward economic security.”

To strengthen its reach, HDFC Securities has partnered with Wagons Learning, EmpowHer India, and Access Livelihoods Foundation. These collaborations are helping deliver financial education across both urban and rural communities through classroom sessions, community outreach, and digital modules. The initiative has so far trained teachers, distributed learning materials, and held awareness sessions across Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana, and Karnataka.

In the next phase, the programme plans to engage 14,000 colleges across 22 states through the Bharat Skills portal of the Directorate General of Training, alongside targeted outreach for gig workers, women entrepreneurs, and domestic workers.

The creative components of the campaign include a comic strip series titled ‘Bear and Bull’ published in multiple languages, and a podcast series hosted by finance journalists and influencers discussing real-life fraud cases and preventive measures.

Offline engagement activities include the ‘Scam or Not’ challenge, campus contests, a collectible card game titled ‘Investment Heist’, and a guidebook named ‘Fraudster’s Dossier’ that helps individuals recognise potential scams.

Ayyappan Raj, Co-founder of The Script Room, which developed the campaign, said, “The concept of scamming seems like it was created by some computers and machines on the Internet. It’s not, it’s just a bunch of people who do it. The campaign idea was to humanise investment scams, making everyone relate to it and understand it, and therefore be aware of it in everyday life.”

“In terms of treatment, we stayed away from the trending, quirky zone of advertising and chose a classic form of storytelling. Big thanks to Nitesh Tiwari and the team at EarthSky for making these scripts land so brilliantly and charmingly. Big hugs to the team at HDFC Securities for being great clients and collaborators.”

The initiative also shares real stories of citizens who have managed to identify and prevent frauds, reinforcing the message that awareness and caution are key to protecting one’s finances.

Watch the campaign films: