Digital payment fraud in Italy: trends and vulnerabilities in H1 2025
The Banca d'Italia has published its report on fraudulent digital payment transactions in Italy for the first half of 2025. The report updates key indicators on digital payment security based on semi-annual data from payment service providers.
A nuanced picture of digital payment fraud
Overall, the fraud rate in Italy remains very low, with 12 fraudulent cases per hundred thousand transactions (0.012% by number) and 3 euros per hundred thousand euros transacted (0.003% by value).
However, significant differences exist across payment instruments.
Fraud rates for debit and credit cards (0.018% by value, 0.009% by number) and ATM withdrawals (0.01% by value, 0.005% by number) remain stable and contained.
Electronic money, particularly prepaid cards, shows higher and increasing fraud rates (0.031% by value, 0.027% by number).
SEPA transfers maintain extremely low fraud rates (0.002% by value, 0.005% by number), though instant SEPA transfers, while significantly higher, saw a reduction in fraud rates (0.043% by value, 0.019% by number) compared to the previous semester, possibly due to enhanced prevention measures.
E-commerce and cross-border vulnerabilities persist
Remote operations, primarily e-commerce, continue to be more susceptible to fraud than physical point-of-sale (POS) transactions.
While the gap is narrowing for payment cards, it is widening for electronic money.
Cross-border transactions exhibit a significantly higher incidence of fraud compared to domestic ones, particularly for payment cards and electronic money.
Operations directed towards countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA), despite representing only 3 percent of card and e-money payments, account for a substantial share (approximately one-fifth) of the fraud perpetrated with these instruments.
Furthermore, manipulation fraud is on the rise and remains the predominant type for bank transfers, accounting for 74 percent by value and 64 percent by number.
The human factor in fraud remains critical
While Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) offers robust protection, the report highlights that customer losses remain substantial, particularly for bank transfers where manipulation fraud is prevalent.
This suggests that technological safeguards alone are insufficient against sophisticated social engineering tactics.
Effective prevention requires a stronger focus on user awareness and clearer liability frameworks for manipulated payments.