The Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB), the regulator responsible for Italy’s securities market, recently announced that it has ordered the black-out of five new websites, which it claims are offering financial services illegally.

In particular, the Italian authority has ordered that the following websites be black out. The websites are:

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• Capoinvest Ltd (sito internet www.capoinvestgroup.co.uk);
• Terratech Ltd (sito internet www.eufxinvest.com);
• Level Up Capital Ltd (sito internet https://trade100fm.net);
• Trade Com Limited (sito internet https://globalspotfx.com);
• Pure M Global Limited (sito internet https://realmarketbroker.com).

With the five new websites identified, the total number of websites which have been obscured by CONSOB since July of 2019 has risen to 257. The actions taken by the regulator on Thursday are part of its expanded powers to order the blackout of abusive financial intermediaries websites.

CONSOB granted new powers

Specifically, the Italian regulator found new tools to address illegal operators in the market when the “Growth Decree” extended its powers far beyond. Thanks to the decree, CONSOB can order Italian internet service providers (ISPs) to block websites in the region.

“The activities for the blackout of the said websites by the Internet connectivity providers operating on the Italian territory are in progress. For technical reasons it can take a few days for making them effective,” the Italian authority said in its statement this week.

CONSOB is very active in its role of protecting Italian consumers from financial scams. As Finance Magnates reported, the regulator recently warned against five entities that are not allowed to offer financial services in Italy but continue to solicit investments from locals.

Regulators face uptick in scams amid COVID-19

The regulator’s warning comes at a time when financial authority’s are struggling with an uptick in financial scams in the wake of COVID-19. On the other side of the world in Australia, the local regulator reported a 20 per cent increase in the number of misconducts reported from March to May this year.