Italy’s CONSOB orders blocking of four illegal investment websites, taking total to 890
Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has issued orders for the blocking of access to four new unauthorized investment websites.
The latest orders target the following entities:
- “Activ4X” (website https://www.activ4x.com and related pages https://client.activ4x.com and https://trade.activ4x.com);
- “VirtuFinance” (website www.virtufinancial.eu and related page https://webtrader.virtufinancial.eu);
- XTB Empire Ltd (website https://xtbempire.com and related page https://client.xtbempire.com);
- “Goldy Deal” (website www.goldydeal.com).
The above-mentioned websites include three illegal financial intermediation websites and one website through which an offer of financial products is carried out in the absence of a prospectus.
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 890. Last week, the regulator ordered the blocking of access to four websites.
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.