Asset Publisher

Abusive financial services: Consob blacks out 6 abusive websites and warns against the recurrent advertising web initiatives which generically recommend fictitious investments and could be functional to the acquisition of sums of money or users' personal data (Press release of 5 February 2021)

Consob warns savers, with a specific Warning, about the advertising campaigns carried out through internet which foreshadow the possibility of gaining significant (often unlikely) financial returns in exchange of the proposed purchase of shares of well-known international technological and commercial companies, of renowned football clubs and/or crypto-currencies. These initiatives could be aimed at the acquisition of sums of money or users' personal data.

Consob has also ordered the blackout of 6 new websites that abusively offer financial services.

The Authority availed itself of the powers deriving from the "Growth Decree" (Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article no. 36, paragraph 2-terdecies), on the basis of which Consob can order Internet connectivity service providers to inhibit access from Italy to the websites through which financial services are offered without due authorization.

Below are the websites Consob has ordered to be blacked out:

- 4ex7 Ltd (website www.4ex7.live);

- "Octaviotradefx" and "Galore Pro" (website https://octaviotradefx.com);

- Itm Solutions LLC (website https://galore.pro and related page https://trading.galore.pro);

- "Finanza-Invest" (website www.finanza-invest.com);

- "Billion Forex Ltd" (website https://billionforex.com);

- HBCMarket Ltd and Zentrale Zahlstelle Ltd (website www.hbc-marketsfx.com).

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 374.

The measures adopted by Consob can be consulted on the website www.consob.it.

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 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 would remind you 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.

Press release