Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) today announced the blocking of access to seven investment websites.

The websites targeted by the orders are:

• “DMAsseteuBV” (website https://dmaeu.com and related pages https://clientzone.dmaeu.com and https://wt.dmaeu.com);
• “Spread Markets” (website https://spread-marketfx.com and associated page https://client.spread-marketfx.com);
• “Aurora Trade Limited” (website https://aurora-trade.ltd and related page https://cfd.aurora-trade.ltd);
• “Lgquantichft” (website https://lgquantichft-fund.com and related page https://app.trade-lgquantichft.com);
• “Settecmanagement” (website https://settcm-group.io and associated page https://client.settecm-group.io);
• “Giro Sharing” (websites https://girosharing.com and https://girouu.com).

Specifically, five of the websites provide investment services and activities relating to financial instruments without authorisation, and two of the websites promote financial products unlawfully.

This brings the total number of websites blocked by Consob since July 2019 – when the Authority was granted the power to order the blocking of websites belonging to unauthorised financial intermediaries – to 1,829. Of these, 235 relate to crypto-related activities.

Internet service providers operating in Italy are currently in the process of blocking these websites. For technical reasons, it may take a few days for the blocking to be implemented.

Consob notes the evolving nature of deceptive practices that exploit the internet to steal users’ money and personal data: there has been an increase in the use of new tools, such as emails and ‘cloned’ websites, fake profiles of politicians and celebrities, and content generated by artificial intelligence systems – such as images, voices or videos – with the aim of persuading investors to make harmful investment decisions.