The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the French financial regulatory body, has inked a partnership with Signal Spam aiming at the transmission of the information about scams on financial products contained in reports of internet users.
Per the agreement terms, Signal Spam will provide the watchdog with any information arising from internet users’ reports on email frauds and scams concerning financial products. A spam report allows the collection of all the technical information required for the identification of a spammer, whether the report relates to a Marketing abuse or cyber-criminal spam.
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Based on these reports, the AMF will be able to take actions against illegal marketing e-mail on financial products and scams that target investors.
Founded in 2005, Signal Spam is a public-private partnership that allows users to report anything that they consider to be spam to the public authority which then takes the required action to combat the reported spam.
France’s anti-spam legislation, which came into effect in 2004, prohibits sending commercial electronic messages without the recipient's consent. Commercial communications are any electronic messages that encourage participation in a commercial activity including emails, text messages and direct message from social media sites.To send such messages, organizations need express consent from recipients—either orally or in writing. Written consent can be electronic.
Furthermore, the AMF recommends that traders seeking to invest in France to do so only with financial institutions authorized to do business in the country. The AMF also warns market participants that “any unauthorized intermediaries run the risk of criminal sanctions” and advises against “responding to offers from any broker on the published lists.”
Any financial intermediary offering or recommending investments must be on the list of financial institutions authorized to do business in France, as can be verified via www.regafi.fr, and a list of authorized intermediaries in additional investor advisor categories can be accessed at orias.fr/search.
