Italy: Regulator blocks access to 977 FX, crypto domains

Rome: Italy’s financial watchdog, Consob, has blocked access to six new websites offering financial services that are not authorized by the regulator. The move is aimed at protecting Italian investors from potential fraud and other risks associated with unregulated financial services providers.

The nation’s Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB) has recently ordered that ISPs block four offshore websites that are operating illegally in the country as the move helps in the fight against unauthorized providers.

Fraudsters could pass themselves off as regulated financial services providers as a result of the ability to register domain names under relevant suffixes such as ‘.bank’ and ‘.fin’, Consob said.

The Italian market securities market regulator has been on a rampant crackdown to protect retail investors by making illegal financial services inaccessible. Additionally, this includes product offers by firms holding licenses in other jurisdictions. The strict actions on these unauthorized actors in the market come as offshore brokers continue to chase online trading business in Italy.

As the battle between legal and unregulated trading rages on, Italian investors have been warned not to take out any financial services from:

– “BTX+” (website https://btxplus.io and related pages https://client.btxplus.io and https://webtrader.btxplus.io);

– “Tide Technologies Group” (website https://tidetechnologiesgroup.ltd);

– Fast-MNG EU Limited (website www.fast-mng.com);

– “Alfacapitalinvest” (website https://alfacapitalinvest.com and related page https://client.alfacapitalinvest.com);

– “Bitcoinup” e “UfinaCapital” (siti https://bitcoinup.io e https://ufinacapital.pro and page https://ufina.trade)

– Digital Trust CSP Fzco (website www.doublefinance.io).

A glimpse at the websites of the brokers added out by the Italian financial regulator shows a well-known tactic to attract inexperienced clients to trade highly leveraged products.

The number of sites blacked out since July 2019, when Consob got the power to ban the websites of financial intermediaries it deems unregulated, has risen to a whopping 977 offshore sites.

The regulator’s end goal is to eliminate unlicensed trading from Italy and ensure a healthy ecosystem for local investors. CONSOB uses a combination of AI-based search algorithms, investigations and customer reports to identify offshore operators.

The Italian regulator found new tools to address illegal operators in the market when the ‘Growth Decree’ extended its powers far beyond. Thanks to the decree, CONSOB can order Italian internet service providers (ISPs) to block websites in the region. Due to technical reasons, however, it can take several days for the black-out to come into effect when these websites shut for a temporary period.