Italian digital payment fraud rates low, instant transfers improve
Banca d'Italia's report on fraudulent payment transactions in Italy for the second half of 2025 reveals that overall fraud rates remain very low, at 0.010 percent by number and 0.003 percent by value. The report highlights significant differences across payment instruments and channels, with instant transfers showing notable improvement.
Transfers Lead Fraud Value
Banca d'Italia's report for H2 2025 shows overall fraud rates in Italian digital payments remain very low: 0.010 percent by number and 0.003 percent by value.
Fraudulent values are highest for transfers (€88.7 million), followed by payment cards (€36.5 million) and e-money (€11.1 million).
In terms of frequency, payment cards recorded the most fraudulent operations (457,500), reflecting their widespread use, followed by e-money (269,600).
Transfers accounted for 31,900 fraudulent operations, and ATM withdrawals for 19,800. Although cards and e-money show higher fraud rates, the average loss per fraudulent transaction is significantly higher for transfers, at €2,784, compared to €80 for cards and €41 for e-money.
ATM withdrawals averaged €505 per fraud.
Instant Transfers and E-commerce Risks
Fraud rates for instant SEPA transfers, though significantly higher than ordinary transfers, saw a substantial reduction of 38 percent from the previous semester and 53 percent from H2 2024.
This improvement is linked to enhanced PSP prevention measures and the Instant Payment Regulation (IPR), which mandated IBAN verification (VOP) from October 2025.
E-commerce transactions remain more exposed to fraud than physical point-of-sale (POS) transactions, with the gap narrowing.
Cross-border operations continue to exhibit a much higher fraud incidence, particularly for payment cards and e-money.
Manipulation fraud is increasing and is the predominant type for transfers, accounting for 72 percent of value and 58 percent of numbers.
Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and exempted operations consistently show lower fraud rates.
Closing the Protection Gap
The increasing manipulation fraud, particularly in transfers, exposes a key vulnerability in payment security.
Despite Strong Customer Authentication's effectiveness, customers currently bear most losses for high-value transfers and ATM withdrawals.
The upcoming PSD3/PSR, introducing mandatory refunds for impersonation fraud, is vital for rebalancing responsibility and boosting trust.