Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has ordered the blocking of access to five new websites that illegally offer financial services.
The sites targeted by the latest Consob orders are:
- “FusionLots” (website and related page
- “CM FX Trade” (website and related page
- “Capitalpartners24” (website
- “Alfacapitalmarket” (website and related page
- “Investax” (website www.investax.org).
The number of websites taken down since July 2019, when Consob gained the power to order the websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries to be blocked, has risen to 1115. Last week, the regulator ordered the blocking of six unauthorized investment websites.
In issuing the orders, the Authority made use of the powers deriving from the “Decreto crescita” (“Development Decree”; Law no. 58 of June 28, 2019, article no. 36, paragraph 2-terdecies). This bill allows Consob to order Internet service providers to block access from Italy to websites offering financial services without proper authorization.
The shutdown of these websites by ISPs operating in Italy continues. For technical reasons, it may take several days for the block to take effect.
Consob draws the attention of investors to the importance of adopting greater diligence in order to make informed investment choices, adopting common sense behaviors necessary to safeguard their savings: these include, for websites offering financial services, the prior checking of operator with whom they are authorized to invest and, for financial product offerings, a prospectus has been published.