Italian Institute for Insurance Supervision orders blocking of four unauthorised insurance websites

The Italian Institute for Insurance Supervision (IVASS) ordered the blocking of four websites for offering insurance services without authorisation, with the blocking to be implemented by internet service providers operating in Italy. The affected domains are secur.argentainsurance.it, agenziamontevecchio.it (including www.agenziamontevecchio.it), buscarinipistarelli.it (including www.buscarinipistarelli.it), and luigiarena.it (including www.luigiarena.it). IVASS noted that the technical process is underway and that effective blocking may take several days; the cumulative number of websites blocked since IVASS began exercising this power in November 2023 has reached 346. The authority also warned consumers to be cautious about policy offers made via instant messaging (for example WhatsApp) or SMS and about payment requests involving prepaid credit cards, and to rely on the official IVASS lists of authorised intermediaries and supervised insurers when checking providers.