limited incidence in the second half of 2024. Bank of Italy data.

Fraud cases involving digital retail payments in Italy have a limited impact on total transactions. This is according to the Report on Fraudulent Payment Transactions in Italy in the Second Half of 2024, published by the Bank of Italy.

The associated losses for users are largely mitigated by the protection mechanisms established by industry regulations. However, even though volumes are limited, fraud—the report emphasizes—remains an insidious phenomenon. Therefore, preventing and reducing fraud risks in digital payments is crucial to the integrity of the retail payments system. Specifically, the fraud rate—that is, the ratio of the value of fraudulent transactions to the total value of payment transactions—is 0,002 percent for bank transfers as a whole, 0,017 percent for card transactions, and 0,021 percent for e-money transactions.

Among bank transfers, instant transfers continue to show higher fraud rates (0,057 percent) than standard bank transfers (0,0015 percent). Fraud rates are higher for cross-border transactions than for domestic ones. Remote transactions are more exposed to fraud than payments at physical points of sale (POS); the gap narrowed in 2024 due to the decline in fraud in online purchases.

Transactions with strong customer authentication (SCA) and with alternative safeguards required by law (so-called SCA exemptions) present low levels of risk. So-called “payer manipulation” fraud is particularly widespread in bank transfers but is also growing in card transactions. It is highly insidious because it exploits customer information gathered through social engineering techniques and tricks the customer into voluntarily initiating a payment to a fraudulent beneficiary.

This type of fraud does not allow for the automatic activation of the refund mechanisms required by law, making it more difficult for the user to recover the funds. Thanks to enhanced security measures (SCA), fraud resulting from loss, counterfeiting, or theft of cards and associated data decreased by 7% year-over-year. In the second half of 2024, the user share of fraud losses was 71% for bank transfers and 68% for ATM withdrawals.

For payment cards and electronic money, however, the burden on payment service providers and other financial intermediaries is higher (60 percent and 58 percent, respectively). Starting October 9, 2025, payment service providers will be required to perform real-time verification of the IBAN and beneficiary details of bank transfers (both instant and traditional), and must report any discrepancies before authorizing the payment.

limited incidence in the second half of 2024. Bank of Italy data.

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