PRESS RELEASE

Non-existent transfers of funds from foreign accounts or unfounded obligations arising from Brexit: beware of fraud attempts via fake emails with fictitious Consob addresses. The Authority has published a Warning to alert investors to fraudulent initiatives by subjects who, fraudulently posing themselves as Consob officials, send emails from email accounts in appearance linked to the Commission. Their aim is to induce investors to pay sums of money to benefit from alleged ‘debt recovery’ services or to ‘unblock’ phantom funds or crypto assets.

Furthermore, as part of its efforts to combat financial abuse, Consob has ordered the blocking of a total of 10 websites.

In particular, 6 websites that illegally provided investment services and activities on financial instruments were blacked out, as well as one website that promoted an unauthorized trading platform through the improper use of references and images of public figures known to the Italian public, specifically Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and journalist Sigfrido Ranucci. Below is a list of the websites that have been ordered to be blacked out:

• “FXInvest” (website https://fxinvest.co and related page https://client.fxinvest.co);
• “ICCTRADES” (website https://icctrades.com and related page https://client.icctrades.com);
• “FortivestTrade” (website www.fortivesttrade.org);
• “Vorenixio” (website https://vorenixio.pro);
• “Eurotradecfd” (website https://eurotrade24-cfds.com and related page https://client.eurotrade24-cfds.com);
• Morgan Capital Ltd – “huriyettdaily.news” (website https://morgancapital.io and related page https://cfd.morgancapital.io and linked advertising website https://huriyettdaily.news).

In addition, Consob ordered the blocking of 3 websites through which crypto-asset services were being provided illegally:

• “Druvaxio” (website https://druvaxio-invest.com);
• “Lucrumiagroup” (websites https://www.lucrumiaofficial.co and https://www.lucrumiamode.co, with related pages https://wap.lucrumiaofficial.co and https://wap.lucrumiamode.co).

This brings the total number of websites blocked by Consob since July 2019, when the Authority was given the power to order the blocking of websites of abusive financial intermediaries, to 1.517.

Finally, Consob asked Apple to remove from its distribution platform in Italy the mobile app linked to ‘Eurotradecfd,’ named ‘DataShark GT’: an application through which financial services were offered illegally.

The Authority has exercised the powers deriving from the ‘Growth Decree’ to block the websites of abusive financial intermediaries, those introduced by the ‘Capital Law’ relating to the blocking of websites used to carry out advertising campaigns for abusive intermediation platforms, as well as the powers provided for by MiCAR (EU Regulation and Legislative Decree No. 129/2024) regarding the blocking of websites through which crypto-asset services are provided to Italian savers without due authorization.

The measures adopted by Consob are available on the website www.consob.it. The blocking of websites by providers is currently underway.

It is important that savers exercise the utmost diligence in making fully informed investment choices, adopting common sense behaviors that are essential for safeguarding their savings: these include checking in advance, for websites offering financial services and crypto-assets, that the operator through which you are investing is authorized and, for financial and crypto-asset product offerings, that the prospectus or white paper has been published.

Consob also draws attention to the evolution of deceptive practices that exploit the internet to steal users' money and personal data: there has been an increase in the use of new tools, such as email messages and ‘cloned’ websites, fake profiles of politicians and celebrities, and content generated using artificial intelligence systems - such as images, voices, or videos - with the aim of inducing savers to make harmful investment choices.

To this end, Consob reminds investors that its website features a section entitled “Watch for Scams!” which provides useful information to warn investors against abusive financial initiatives.

Press release PDF version