How one of India’s largest IT services firms safeguards its global footprint with Hunto AI Takedowns
Industry
RBI-approved TReDS platform
Scale
~₹93 Cr revenue in FY25
Product used
Hunto AI Brand Monitoring & Takedown
Location
India
About Client
M1xchange operates an RBI-approved Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) that connects MSME suppliers, large corporates and financiers on a digital marketplace to discount approved invoices, improving MSME liquidity and working capital. The platform’s public footprint spans corporate and product websites, onboarding flows, FAQs for MSMEs and corporates, app listings, social channels and help content. This visibility makes the brand a target for look-alike domains, fake support handles and counterfeit “onboarding” pages that siphon users into phishing funnels or fee scams.
Challenges faced
Impersonation and fraud leakage
Attackers created spoofed domains and social pages posing as M1xchange onboarding or support. Lures included “KYC revalidation,” “invoice acceptance confirmation,” “priority onboarding,” and “settlement verification,” aiming to harvest OTPs, UPI details, credentials or collect bogus fees.
Hijacked brand queries
During campaigns and product pushes, malicious ads and SEO-poisoned pages intermittently outranked official results for “M1xchange login,” “TReDS registration,” and “MSME vendor onboarding,” diverting high-intent users to fraudulent forms.
Fragmented, slow takedowns
Registrars, hosts, social networks, job boards, app stores and ad networks each required different evidence formats and policy hooks. Ad-hoc screenshots and email threads slowed time-to-takedown, and mirror sites resurfaced.
Compliance and assurance pressure
As an RBI-authorised payments market infrastructure operator, M1xchange must evidence continuous surveillance, incident handling, and third-party oversight. Security and compliance teams needed artifact-rich case files that map to RBI expectations and support partner/customer due-diligence. Relevant RBI regimes include the Cyber Security Framework for Banks (sector baseline referenced by supervisors), Outsourcing of IT Services Directions, 2023, and the Master Directions on Cyber Resilience and Digital Payment Security Controls for non-bank PSOs (July 30, 2024) for payments operators.
Hunto AI Solution
Objective: Detect and remove impersonation infrastructure across domains, social, app stores, ads and messaging, then deliver platform-acceptable, audit-grade proof aligned with RBI and national cyber requirements.
Rapid onboarding and pattern seeding
We ingested official domains, verified handles, app IDs and high-intent search terms. Hunto AI seeded fintech-specific lures seen with TReDS flows: KYC revalidation, invoice acceptance, UPI/OTP capture, priority onboarding, refund or settlement confirmation, and vendor fee scams.
Always-on brand monitoring
Look-alike domain hunting using fuzzy and homograph checks with passive DNS and page-similarity scoring to flag suspicious registrations early.
Social and store sweeps to find imposter support pages, fake recruiters and clone apps misusing brand marks or claiming affiliation.
Search and ads watchlists that alert on malicious paid placements and SEO traps intercepting branded queries during onboarding pushes, corporate announcements or media mentions.
Messaging and link-hub tracking to surface amplification networks and link farms that keep scam infrastructure alive.
Agentic takedown execution with evidence
Auto-assembled case files for each finding containing screenshots, WHOIS/ASN and hosting metadata, timestamped crawls, link graphs and policy citations for the targeted platform.
Platform-native notices to registrars/hosts, social networks, app stores and ad networks raised first-notice acceptance rates.
Mirror and cluster suppression: post-removal re-scans mapped connected infrastructure so clusters were removed, not only single URLs.
Customer-safety and CX enablement
- A paste-ready Official Channels microsnippet lists verified URLs, app IDs and handles plus “how to report” steps for MSMEs and corporate users.
- Short support scripts standardized verification and escalation for CX teams and channel partners, reducing handle time and repeat investigations.
Reporting and governance
Executive dashboard shows detections, median Time-to-Takedown (TTD), first-notice acceptance, scam survival time and directional trust/revenue-protection proxies tied to onboarding and portal analytics.
Monthly evidence archive packages all case files for internal audit and customer/partner questionnaires, with labels for vendor-managed public assets to support third-party oversight.
Impact
“We converted brand abuse from ad-hoc firefighting into an operating metric. Fraud pages disappear faster, users get clear guidance and our evidence stands up to audits and partner diligence.”
Head of Risk & Compliance, M1xchange
Measured outcomes in the first 120 days (publication-safe)
Scale handled: 200+ abusive assets detected across domains, social, app stores and ads; ~79% removed on first notice; most of the remainder cleared after a single follow-up.
Velocity gained: Median TTD < 24 hours for registrar/hosting cases; < 12 hours for social and app-store listings after evidence submission; malicious search ads reported within 2–6 hours during onboarding peaks.
User protection: Noticeable drop in scam-related tickets once Official Channels guidance and scripts went live; fewer repeat investigations due to standardized evidence packs.
Assurance enablement: Faster responses to partner and customer security questionnaires and internal audits via month-end exports.
How Hunto AI maps to mandatory Indian cyber expectations
RBI Master Directions on Cyber Resilience and Digital Payment Security Controls for non-bank PSOs (July 30, 2024)
- Expect PSOs to implement continuous monitoring, incident response, threat intelligence and customer awareness appropriate to the payment system risk. Hunto AI delivers 24×7 external surveillance, evidence-backed takedowns and reusable customer-awareness content, helping PSOs show practical compliance.
Requires governance and oversight so outsourcing does not diminish obligations to customers or impede supervision. Hunto AI’s vendor/partner labeling, takedown performance metrics and evidence archives support oversight, audit rights and periodic reviews with service providers hosting public assets.
Emphasises continuous surveillance, incident reporting and stakeholder awareness across the banking ecosystem and is often referenced by supervisors. Hunto AI’s case files provide artifact-rich, time-stamped proof that attaches cleanly to incident logs and audit trails.
Mandate reporting of specified cyber incidents within six hours, require 180-day log retention in India and clock synchronisation. Brand-abuse detections involving phishing, fake apps or identity theft fall within reportable classes; Hunto AI’s evidence packs and timelines help teams file and update reports on time.
Requires reasonable security safeguards and breach notification to the Data Protection Board and affected individuals as prescribed. By suppressing impersonation infrastructure early and documenting actions, Hunto AI strengthens due-diligence and breach-prevention posture for data fiduciaries.
Why Hunto AI worked for a regulated payments marketplace
Breadth with proof
One console covered domains, social, app stores and ads. Every takedown shipped with the exact artifacts platforms expect, raising acceptance and shrinking cycle time.
Lean-team friendly
Automation handled discovery, evidence assembly, submissions and mirror hunts; business teams reused consistent scripts and Official Channels content across web and app surfaces.
Compliance and security together
Evidence archives, trendlines and third-party labeling map cleanly to RBI PSO Master Directions, Outsourcing Directions, CERT-In and DPDP expectations while tangibly reducing fraud in the wild.
About Hunto AI
Hunto AI quantifies external cyber and brand risk and resolves it automatically. Brand Monitoring & Takedown detects impersonation across domains, social, app stores, ads and messaging, then executes removals with evidence that stands up to scrutiny. Organisations can add Attack Surface Monitoring later to consolidate external hygiene in one platform.
Note: Certain metrics are anonymized due to confidentiality commitments.
Protect customers and brand trust while staying audit ready.
Request a no integration Brand Abuse Snapshot and receive an evidence ready takedown pack plus a 30 day suppression plan aligned to RBI expectations.