Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has ordered the blocking of access to six new websites that offer financial services illegally.

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). This piece of legislation allows Consob to order Internet service providers to block access from Italy to websites offering financial services without the proper authorization.

The websites targeted by the latest Consob orders are:

• “Expo Trust” (website https://expo-trust.net and related page https://user.expotrust.net);
• “Royal Dimex Ltd” (website www.royaldimex.com and related page https://trade.royaldimex.com);
• “Real PremiumEU” and “Real PremiumEU Markets” (website www.realpremiumeu.com and related page https://client.realpremiumeu.com);
• Investousit (website https://investousit.com and related page https://clientzone.investousit.com e https://webtrader.investousit.com);
• “Lyxmont” and “Alfatrade” (websites www.lyxmont.com and https://alfatraders.org).

The number of websites blacked out since July 2019, when Consob got the power to order the blocking of websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries, has thus risen to 1,110. Several days ago, the regulator ordered the blocking of the websites of LLCapitalFX and RussellGroupFX.

The black-out of these websites by Internet service providers operating in Italy is ongoing. For technical reasons, it can take several days for the blocking to be implemented.

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.