The spread of digital payments continues to increase in Italy, while the overall level of fraud remains lowThis is the picture that emerges from the Report of the Bank of Italy on fraudulent payment transactions for the second half of 2025, which highlights a significant change: many types of traditional fraud are decreasing, but scams based on the psychological manipulation of victims are increasing, especially in bank transfers.
Ten frauds for every 100 transactions
In the second half of 2025 the overall fraud rate remained at very low levels: just 10 fraudulent transactions for every 100 transactions (0,010%) and 3 euros defrauded for every 100 thousand euros moved (0,003%). These figures confirm the high level of security of the Italian digital payment system, while still highlighting some emerging phenomena. Differences between payment instruments, however, remain significant. Wire transfers continue to have the lowest fraud rate, equal to 0,002% in value, while payment cards and electronic money show higher levels, although decreasing compared to the previous half-year.
Instant transfers more exposed, but the risk is decreasing
One of the most interesting findings concerns instant SEPA transfers. While they remain more vulnerable than standard transfers, their risk level has decreased significantly. The fraud rate by value dropped by 38% compared to the previous half-year and by 53% year-over-year. According to the Bank of Italy, this improvement was driven by the new measures introduced by the Instant Payment Regulation, including the automatic verification of the correspondence between IBAN and beneficiary (Verification of Payee), which became mandatory in October 2025.
Stay anyway the average value of bank transfer fraud is high: approximately 2.784 euros, which rises to 5.509 euros for ordinary bank transfers, compared to just 80 euros for payment cards and 41 euros for electronic money.
E-commerce still the riskiest channel
Online transactions continue to be more exposed than payments at physical points of sale, although the gap is gradually narrowing. For payment cards e-commerce fraud rate dropped to 0,060% of the value of transactions, while payments made via physical POS remained stable at 0,006%. Similar trends apply to electronic money.
International transactions also confirm a significantly higher risk than domestic ones, in particular when they involve Countries outside the European Economic Area, which concentrate a share of fraud much higher than their weight in total transactions.
Scams based on deception are on the rise
The phenomenon that is of greatest concern concerns the so-called payer manipulation fraud, i.e., cases in which the customer is convinced through phishing, spoofing, or vishing techniques to personally make the payment to an account controlled by criminals. This type of scam has become a common practice in bank transfers. 72% of the value e 58% of the number of fraud, shares significantly increased compared to the previous semester.
Strong authentication and new refunds
The report finally confirms the effectiveness of theStrong Customer Authentication (SCA)Transactions carried out with two-factor authentication or falling within the exemptions provided for by the legislation register significantly lower fraud rates than those not subject to such checks.
The issue of the distribution of losses remains open. In the bank transfers, 92% of economic damages In fact, it continues to fall on users, especially in cases of manipulation. Future European legislation PSD3/PSR It aims to strengthen customer protection by introducing mandatory refunds in cases of fraud involving the impersonation of financial intermediaries.
