The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has opened disciplinary proceedings towards Twitter International, the managing entity of the social community The markets supervisor highlights, specifically, the ads contracted by the agency Quantum AI in improper use by mentioned entities of the picture of public figures in Spain,” in line with the group’s assertion. The CNMV warned in December 2023 about this alleged fraud, which used characters equivalent to Felipe VI, Pablo Motos or Pablo Hernández de Cos, and supplanted the web sites of EL PAÍS, RTVE or El Mundo, with the bait of “large profits with investments in the stock market or cryptocurrencies, with confusing language and misleading promises.”
The investigation into this attainable rip-off handed, as is the process in these instances, into the arms of the National Police. But then the CNMV already indicated that it could train “all the possibilities of supervision and sanction granted by current legislation, among others, the responsibility of the websites, media and social networks that disseminate this advertising without verifying that the advertiser has a license to offer investment services and that it is not warned as a financial beach bar or pirate entity.” In mentioned communication, it indicated the listing of fraudulent internet pages to which the promoting linked, which used deepfakes with faux interviews. The opening of the file has been adopted by the board of the supervisory physique in a gathering on December 13, one of many final within the mandate of Rodrigo Buenaventura who has been significantly energetic in making an attempt to restrict the promoting of unauthorized monetary providers that open the door to large-scale scams.
In reality, the securities market legislation was modified in 2023 on the request of the CNMV to incorporate as a really critical infraction “the publication of advertisements, or outstanding paid results, of investment services on internet search engines, social networks and media without carrying out the checks.” Since then, social networks and the media are obliged to carry out this verification, which the CNMV facilitates electronically. By failing to comply with these regulations, and in the event that the file results in a sanction, the fine to which Twitter International, based in Ireland, is exposed, will be up to 10% of its business volume (or 10 million euros , the highest amount). Since the file is directed against an Irish company, the eventual legal process would end up in the European courts.
It has not been the only case of financial scams that advertised on social networks to spread possible scams, “however none has been as cussed or as extended as that of Quantum and X,” indicate financial sources. Furthermore, Quantum AI was not an exclusive case of Spain. Authorities in Hong Kong and Australia have warned about this scam, which also used an image of Elon Musk, owner of Twitter and X. Even so, the social network did not remove the advertising either. “The company (Twitter) was informed of the scam, but refused to withdraw the advertising,” they emphasize and recall in similar cases, other social networks have withdrawn the promotion of possible scams.
The promotion of illegitimate financial operations through social networks is relatively common, but sources from the CNMV differentiate between advertising content, that is, paid content, which is covered by the regulations, from organic content, that is, the realization of videos or audios by users in which these activities are promoted, and where the responsibility of the platforms does not extend. Content on social networks, in fact, was the main way for the growth of Madeira Investment Club, a financial beach bar created by Álvaro Romillo (also known on networks as Luis or Cryptospain), which has left a hole of up to 600 million and that is currently in the hands of Justice. Furthermore, far-right MEP Alvise Pérez is being investigated for having collected 100,000 euros from this beach bar, supposedly in exchange for promoting these allegedly fraudulent activities.
In December 2023, along with Quantum, the supervisor warned about one other agency, Monetrizer, about which till then it had not issued any warning. In the case of the latter, one of many internet pages used the picture of the Spanish businessman Amancio Ortega, founding father of Inditex, and the then first vp of the Government, Nadia Calviño. “Monetrizer AI is the fastest way to make money in the market today. Artificial intelligence has reached a new level and now you can obtain benefits in hundreds and even thousands of percent,” the web site said, fraudulently, which Ortega would have claimed. In the case of Calviño they went additional: “Buy low and sell high. “Everything is simple,” mentioned the president of the EIB.
https://cincodias.elpais.com/mercados-financieros/2024-12-26/la-cnmv-expedienta-a-twitter-por-dar-publicidad-a-posibles-estafas-financieras.html