Italy’s Consob: 441 illegal online trading websites blocked
Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has ordered the blackout of five new websites that abusively offer financial services.
Below are the websites targeted by the latest set of orders:
- Seabreeze Partners Ltd (website www.profitassist.io and related page https://webtrader.profitassist.cc);
- “InvestFlow” (website www.invest-flow.io and related page https://webtrader.investflow.trade);
- Renaissance Invest Ltd (website www.renaissanceinvestltd.com);
- “Swissqb247” (website https://swissqb247.com and related page https://client.swissqb247.com);
- ESOS International Ltd e Kadeky International SRO (website www.ainvestments.eu and related page https://trading.ainvestments.eu).
In issuing the orders, Consob made use 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 service providers to block access from Italy to the websites through which financial services are offered without due authorization.
The number of websites blocked since July 2019, when Consob got the power to order that the websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries be blacked out, has thus risen to 441. Let’s note that some of these website belong to clone entities, that is, to entities that use the data of authorised firms (names, logos, etc) in order to mislead investors that they are authorised too.
Most of the blocked websites belong to FX, CFD and crypto brokers.
The black-out of these websites by Internet service providers is ongoing. For technical reasons, it can take several days for the blocking to be implemented.