New Delhi, June 17 -- Scroll through Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook, and ads from fintech apps offering a free review of your portfolio pop up countless times. Though fintech apps are usually distributors of financial products, they often use free portfolio reviews to grab investor attention.

This service, at first glance, may seem promising, but if investors are not mindful, it can easily become an avenue for product pitches that may not fit or make sense for an investor's goals or portfolio.

A misconception among retail investors is that a digital application operates with objectivity simply because an algorithm is generating the reports. But the fiduciary structure behind these apps calls for careful review. According to an industry...