Central Bank of Paraguay warns Financiera de Ahorro y Aval SA is unauthorized and seeks takedown of spoof website

The Central Bank of Paraguay has warned that Financiera de Ahorro y Aval SA does not have authorization to operate in Paraguay. The notice also cautions the public about misleading advertising linked to the purported firm and about a website presented through a QR code that the central bank says is unrelated to it and contains false information. The bank recalled that, under Article 5 of Paraguay’s General Law on Banks, Financial Institutions and Other Credit Entities, no domestic or foreign entity may carry out banking, finance or other credit activities in Paraguay without prior and express authorization from the Central Bank of Paraguay. The same provision bars unauthorized entities from advertising or seeking to collect funds from the public for those purposes. It advised the public to verify authorized supervised entities through its official register and said users should not access the spoof site or provide personal data through that platform. To protect institutional integrity, the Central Bank of Paraguay reported the website to CERT-PY and requested the measures needed for its definitive removal.