Italy’s CONSOB orders blocking of three illegal investment websites, total reaches 930
Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has issued orders for the blocking of access to three illegal investment websites.
The websites targeted by the latest set of orders are:
- “JFD Market” (websites https://jfdtrade.net and related page https://account.jfdtrade.net);
- Orionda Financials Ltd and TradeCare365 Markets Ltd (website www.tradecare365.com and related pages https://clientzone.tradecare365.com and https://webtrader.tradecare365.com);
- “VirtuFinance” (website www.virtufinancialireland.com and related page ttps://webtrader.virtufinancialireland.com).
In issuing the orders, the regulator 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 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 930. Last week, the regulator ordered the blocking of access to several websites, including ones belonging to Trade4winner and OnspotBNK.
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.