The Italian Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has issued an order banning access to five unauthorised investment websites, the websites targeted are:

• “TBMarket” (website https://tbmarket.co);
• “Ahfultra” (website https://ahfultra.co and related page https://app.ahfultra.co);
• “Forexelite Limited – Elite Trading Academy Limited” (website https://forexelite.trade and related page https://my.forexelite.trade);
• Top Markets Ltd and Imperialcap-24 Limited (website https://imperialcap-24.com and related page https://wt.imperialcap-24.com);
• “PepperstoneTrade” (website www.pepperstoneltd.co and related page https://client.pepperstoneltd.co).

Some of the above websites are clones, i.e. entities that misuse authorised business data (address, name, logo) in order to make it easier to lure victims.

Since July 2019, when Consob was given the power to order the closure of the websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries, the number of websites closed down has increased to 1,094 Last week, the regulator ordered a ban on access to five unauthorised websites, including those operated by GMT Brokers Ltd and TopTierCapital.

The blocking of these websites by Italian internet service providers is still ongoing. For technical reasons, the blocking will take several days to complete.

Consob draws investors' attention to the fact that, in order to make informed investment choices, it is important to do their utmost to adopt common-sense behaviours that are essential for the protection of property: these include, in the case of websites offering financial services, checking beforehand that the operator in which they are investing is authorised to do so, and, in the case of websites offering financial products, checking that the prospectus is published.