Italy’s Consob orders blocking of access to four new unauthorized investment websites
Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has issued orders for the blocking of access to four new unauthorized investment websites.
The websites targeted by the latest set of orders are:
- “IKON CFD” (Internet website www.ikon-cfd.com and related pages https://my.ikon-cfd.com and https://webtrader.ikon-cfd.com);
- “BTC Capital Group” (Internet website www.btccapitalgroup.com);
- “Trezocapital” (Internet website www.trezocapital.co);
- EZ2GO Ltd (Internet website https://europemarket.io and related pages https://client.europemarket.io and https://webtrader.europemarket.io).
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 886. last week, the regulator ordered the blocking of access to three websites, including those operated by PrimusFX, AcerFinance, and Vivian Trade.
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.