Another blow to WhatsApp, Consob cracks down on the 300% return scam.

Who wouldn't dream of a 300% return on their money? The three-figure offer is being floated on WhatsApp. But it's a scam. This brings yet another blow to Italian Meta, the owner of WhatsApp, which was already at the center of an antitrust investigation yesterday for unsolicited artificial intelligence on the app. Today, the stock exchange regulator is stepping in to put an end to the "300% scam."

And in this latest case highlighted by Consob, three companies are involved: Meta, Google, and Apple.

The authority reports that so-called brokers promised fabulous returns of up to 300% via WhatsApp. All you had to do was download the CapFirst app from Google Play or CapOne from the Apple Store to your smartphone, open a trading account, and from there, you could access the fantastic world of easy three-figure earnings.

It seemed like a dream, but it was actually a scam. To block it, Consob ordered the cessation of the abusive financial intermediation activities and asked Google and Apple to remove the apps from their respective stores.

At the same time, the Authority has issued a new warning to investors about the risks associated with investment offers circulating on WhatsApp groups and chats. The previous warning, issued last November, addressed scams that, using well-known international financial firms such as Morgan Stanley and Blackrock as bait, promoted alleged investment opportunities via WhatsApp that were in reality nothing more than a trap.

Regarding the latest incident, Consob intervened in a case similar in substance but different in form. It blocked abusive investment offers promoted on WhatsApp by self-styled financial experts, presumably operating under cover names, who claimed to have been authorized by Consob itself.

According to the Authority's reconstruction, the scam consisted of promising astronomical returns, even in the triple digits, that savers could obtain by following instructions given to them via WhatsApp by self-proclaimed experts and by trading on the financial markets through two apps available on Google Play and the Apple Store: CapFirst (for Android) and CapOne (for iOS), which could be downloaded to their smartphones. Through the apps, and after opening an account supposedly used for trading, the victims were induced to engage in (fake) trading and investment activities in stocks and stock indices, which later turned out to be fake, thus causing the unfortunate victims to lose all their invested funds.

In light of this latest episode, Consob once again warns investors to exercise utmost caution and make informed investment choices, adopting common sense practices that are essential to safeguarding their savings, starting with verifying that the operator they are investing in is authorized.