Consob Blocks Five New Illegal Financial Websites

Italy’s financial regulatory authority, Consob, recently blacked out five new illegal financial websites. According to the regulator, the companies behind these websites were offering unauthorized services to Italian citizens.

Consob has ordered the blocking of the websites of Tetris Group Ltd, Bitaroma, Finomarkets, ETA Ltd and Invest Union Ltd. Consob has blocked a total of 708 websites since July 2019.

In the past few months, the Italian financial regulatory authority has stepped up its efforts to protect investors in the region from fraudulent activities. Consob has requested that investors complete due diligence before investing in Italy and other European countries because scams are on the rise.

“Consob draws investors’ attention to the importance of adopting the greatest diligence in order 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,” the watchdog pointed out.

Consob added: “The Authority availed itself of the powers deriving from the 'Growth Decree' (Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article no. 36, paragraph 2-terdecies), on the basis of which Consob can order Internet connectivity service providers to inhibit access from Italy to the websites through which financial services are offered without due authorization.”

According to Consob, the section on its website titled ‘Watch for Scams’ aids investors in identifying fraudulent projects. Additionally, citizens were encouraged to check the credibility of the website and the company behind it before making an investment decision.

Recent Actions Taken by Consob

Recently, Consob ordered to block the websites of GrouPolo LTD, Globalinvestous, Ingenue Consulting LLC, Bodacious Consulting LLC, and Tradebaionics. Furthermore, the authority blocked Evergo Ltd, Profit Market, Trading Room Star, Agrico Holdings Limited, Ucanny Services LLC, Fast Invest Group OU, Yosemite and Futures Assets Ltd.