Italy’s financial regulator, CONSOB, revealed Friday that it has ordered the black-out of four websites offering unauthorised financial services to Italian consumers.
Italian Regulator CONSOB Blocks 4 Financial Services Sites
The action, aimed at protecting investors from fraudulent activities, is part of CONSOB’s ongoing campaign against abusive financial intermediaries. The regulator often orders the black-out of unauthorised sites
The targeted websites are:
- GOMARKETSLTD.net (including gomarketsltd.net and client.gomarketsltd.net)
- Fidus Invest (including idus-invest.com, panel.fidus-invest.com, and trade.webtrader-fx.com)
- First State Investments (Ireland) Limited (including fsinvest.cm, client.fsinvest.cm, and webtrader.fsinvest.cm)
- Financial Magnum (fin-magnum.com)
The move is enabled by Italy’s Decreto Crescita (Growth Decree), which grants CONSOB the authority to force Internet service providers to block access to unauthorised financial websites.
Since gaining this power in July 2019, CONSOB said it has blacked out 1,184 such sites.
While the black-out measures are being implemented, CONSOB urged investors to exercise caution, explaining that consumers should verify the authorisation of any financial service provider through CONSOB’s official website and ensure that offers of financial products are accompanied by published prospectuses.
The regulator has a section, accessible on its homepage, that provides advice for safeguarding savings and avoiding fraudulent schemes.
