meta_id 3339979

On July 2026, the Bank of Italy (Banca d'Italia) published its Report on Fraudulent Payment Operations in Italy for the second half of 2025. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of payment security indicators across Italy's retail digital payment systems, based on semi-annual reports submitted by payment service providers (PSPs) on fraud incidents involving various electronic payment instruments. The report defines fraud as unauthorised operations conducted without the account holder's consent or operations resulting from payer manipulation by fraudsters. Overall fraud rates remain low: 10 fraudulent cases per 100,000 transactions (0.010 percent by volume) and 3 euros per 100,000 euros transacted (0.003 percent by value). However, significant variations exist across payment instruments. Wire transfers (bonifici) maintained extremely low fraud rates at 0.002 percent by value and 0.004 percent by volume, while e-money instruments and debit/credit cards recorded higher rates at 0.024 percent and 0.017 percent by value respectively, though both showed appreciable reductions from the previous semester. Instant SEPA transfers demonstrated substantially higher fraud rates than ordinary transfers at 0.028 percent by value and 0.012 percent by volume, but experienced significant declines of 38 percent and 40 percent respectively compared to the previous period, attributed partly to strengthened prevention measures and the implementation of Payee Verification (VOP) services mandated by the Instant Payment Regulation (IPR) effective October 9, 2025. The report identifies manipulation fraud as the predominant typology for wire transfers, representing 72 percent by value and 58 percent by volume, while unauthorised transactions dominate card and e-money fraud. Cross-border transactions outside the European Economic Area (EEA) present elevated fraud risks, concentrating approximately one-quarter to one-third of card and e-money fraud despite representing only 2 percent of such transactions. Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and SCA-exempt transactions classified as low-risk demonstrate substantially lower fraud rates than non-SCA transactions. Customers bear 92 percent of wire transfer fraud losses and 68 percent of ATM withdrawal losses, compared to 40 percent for card and e-money transactions, reflecting differing fraud typologies and instrument characteristics. The Bank of Italy's analysis underscores that while fraud incidence remains limited relative to total transaction volumes, ongoing prevention and risk reduction remain priorities for European supervisory authorities to maintain retail payment system integrity. The forthcoming Payment Services Directive 3 (PSD3) and Payment Services Regulation (PSR) will introduce mandatory reimbursements for impersonation fraud victims, addressing historical imbalances where customers absorbed most manipulation fraud costs. REFERENCES: Bank of Italy. (2026). Rapporto sulle operazioni di pagamento fraudolente in Italia – II semestre 2025. Retrieved from Bank of Italy official publications.