Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has ordered the blocking of access to four new websites that offer financial services illegally.

The websites targeted by the latest orders are:

• “Mercantiles” (website https://accessmercantiles.org);
• “Tide Technologies Group” (website https://tidetechnologiesgroup.pro and related page https://t-tg.cc);
• “CMC Finance Group” (website https://cmcfinancegroup.com);
• “FXG Markets Investment” (website https://fxg-markets.io).

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 websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries, has thus risen to 1156. Last week, the regulator ordered the blocking of access to eight unauthorized investment websites.

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.

Consob draws investors’ attention to the importance of adopting the greatest diligence in order to make informed investment choices, adopting common sense behaviours, 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 unauthorized initiatives.

Please pay attention to the fact that some of the blocked websites belong to entities that abuse the names and other data of authorised companies. These fraudulent entities have nothing to do with the authorised firms.