Informare de presă

Bucharest, 16 June 2023 - The Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) continues to warn consumers about the existence, in the online environment, of entities that are not authorized to provide investment services and activities, as provided for by Law No. 126/2018 on markets in financial instruments. The Authority's website has published HERE alerts on 172 entities not authorised by ASF, for which there were indications or evidence that they provide such services in Romania.

At the same time, ASF drew attention, through published alerts, to 199 websites promoting so-called financial investment services belonging to entities not authorised by the Authority. Some 82% of the entities committing online fraud are based in third countries or claim to be based in third countries.

Since the beginning of June and to date, ASF has posted four more new alerts on the Authority's website regarding unauthorized entities. ASF advises those wishing to invest in the capital market to check on the Authority's website HERE whether the entities they are considering are authorised or not.

ASF pays particular attention to the phenomenon of online financial fraud committed by unauthorised firms. Over the last three years, ASF has been running a sustained consumer information campaign and has drawn attention to the fact that financial investments should be made in full knowledge of the facts and only after careful analysis of the offers received.

The Authority has created a section on the official website dedicated to the issue of unauthorised entities („ATENȚIE LA ENTITĂȚI NEAUTORIZATE!” - available in Romanian). The section contains both information on the most common practices used by unauthorised entities and recommendations for potential investors. The segmentation of information has been designed to answer questions such as "What should you do to avoid using an unauthorised entity?", "What should you do if you have been contacted by an entity that is not in the ASF Register?", "What should you do if you have used the services of an entity that is not in the ASF Register?". The section also provides forms for reporting to ASF of these entities and is updated on an ongoing basis according to trends in the practice of these entities.

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