Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has ordered the blocking of access to five illegal investment websites.

The websites targeted by the latest orders are:

• “Stockplus-it.com” (website https://stockplus-it.com and related page https://client.stockplus-it.com);
• “Alfacapitalmarketsltd” (website https://alfacapitalmarketsltd.com and related page https://account.alfacapitalmarketsltd.com);
• “Fintech Market” (website https://fintechmarket-consulting.com and related page https://cfd.fintechmarket-consulting.com);
• “AfexEU” (website https://afexeu.com and related pages https://client.afexeu.com and https://trade.afexeu.com);
• “Aiontrader” (website https://aiontrader.com and related pages https://client.aiontrader.com and https://client1.aiontrader.com).

In issuing the orders, CONSOB 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 that the websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries be blacked out, has thus risen to 940.

The implementation of the blocking of these websites by Internet service providers is ongoing. For technical reasons, it can take several days for the black-out to come into effect.

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.

To this end, Consob remind investors that on the website www.consob.it there is a section on the homepage, “Watch for Scams!”, providing useful information to warn investors against financially abusive initiatives.