The Italian Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has issued an order banning access to five unauthorised investment websites.

The websites targeted by the CONSOB order are:

• “Marketsac.eu” (website https://marketsac.eu and related page https://platform.marketsac-tp.eu);
• “TopTierCapital” (website www.toptiercapital.org);
• “Top Markets LTD” (website www.vantagecfd.com and the related page https://wt.vantagecfd.com);
• “CryptosMarket” (website https://cryptosmarket.io);
• “GMT Brokers Ltd” (sito internet https://gmtbrokers.com and the related page https://portal.tradingfxapp.net).

Since July 2019, when Consob was given the power to order the closure of websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries, the number of websites shut down has risen to 1,089. Last week, the regulator ordered a ban on access to 5 unauthorised websites, including those operated by SeguroFX and Sigma Capital.

The blocking of these websites by Italian ISPs is still ongoing. For technical reasons, it may take a few days for the block to be implemented.

Consob draws investors' attention to the importance of making their best efforts to make informed investment choices, and that common sense behaviour is essential to protect their savings: this includes checking in advance that the operator of their investment is authorised in the case of websites offering financial services, and checking that a prospectus has been published in the case of websites offering financial products.