Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) has ordered the blocking of access to three crypto websites that cloned the faces and voices of well-known politicians.
Consob ordered the black out of three websites that used scam ads to promote the initiatives of entities not authorized to provide investment and crypto-asset services, leveraging the notoriety of leading figures in the Italian institutional world, such as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, and Elly Schlein and Carlo Calenda, who were completely unconnected with the matter.
Specifically, following the measures already implemented, the Authority prohibited promotional activities on the websites https://it-more.culinaryjoy.sbs, https://ayquozeber.com, and https://cyberirfy.icu, which promoted online platforms through which crypto-asset or investment services were provided illegally.
The Commission also ordered the black out of a further 14 websites that were illegally offering financial services. Specifically, the blocked sites are as follows:
- “InvestiumGroups” (website https://investiumgroupsltd.com and pages https://client.investiumgroupsltd.com);
- “Protradealliance” (website https://protradealliance.com);
- “Aureo Flowdex” (website https://aureo-flowdex.com);
- “Servelius” (website https://servelius.com and page https://webtrader.glarings-armorier.com);
- “BrokerageAI” – “it-more.culinaryjoy.sbs” (website https://brokerageai.org, related pages https://client.brokerageai.org and https://webtrader.brokerageai.org, and promotional website https://it-more.culinaryjoy.sbs);
- “ZZCoin” (website https://zzcoingy.com);
- “Ofuyc” (websites www.ofuyc.com, www.ofuyc-32516it.com, www.ofuyc-55337it.com, www.ofuyc-23166it.com, www.ofuyc-33111it.com, and www.ofuyc-83255it.com);
- “Veltrixmax-invest.com” – “Ayquozeber.com” (website https://veltrixmax-invest.com and promotional website https://ayquozeber.com);
- “Orolonix-invest.com” – “Cyberirfy.icu” (website https://orolonix-invest.com and promotional website https://cyberirfy.icu).
The number of websites blacked out since July 2019, when Consob got the power to order that the websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries be blocked, has thus risen to 1443.
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) and MiCAR (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 and Legislative Decree No. 129 of 5 September 2024).
