Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has issued orders for the blocking of access to six new investment websites that target Italian investors without having the necessary authorization to do so.
The websites targeted by the latest orders are:
- “Fintech Market” (website www.fintechmarket.pro and related page cfd.fintechmarket.pro);
- First Trade Cfd (website and related pages and
- “Prime Markets” (website and related page
- “Trezocapital” (website www.trezocapital.com);
- C.F. Global Enterprise LLC (website www.epicinvest24.net and related page
- Fixxfi Ltd (website www.fixxfi.com and related pages e
In issuing the orders, the Authority made use of the powers deriving from the “Decreto crescita” (“Growth Decree”; Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article no. 36, paragraph 2-terdecies), on the basis of which Consob can order Internet service providers to block access from Italy to websites offering financial services without the proper authorization.
The number of websites blacked out since July 2019, when Consob got the power to order the blocking of access to the websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries, has thus risen to 866.
Earlier in March, the regulator also issued an order for the blocking of access to five illegal investment websites.
The black-out of these websites by Internet service providers operating on Italian territory is ongoing. For technical reasons, it can take several days for the blocking to come into effect.
Consob draws investors’ attention to the importance of adopting the greatest diligence to make informed investment choices, adopting common sense behaviors, essential to safeguard their savings: these include, for websites that offer financial services, checking in advance that the operator with whom they are investing is authorized, and, for offers of financial products, that a prospectus has been published.
