Automated fraud attacks are on the rise in Italy, while the growing adoption of instant payments gives banks less time to detect and stop suspicious transactions. Social engineering remains a dominant threat, with fraudsters using impersonation and manipulation to trick victims into authorizing payments or sharing credentials.

The financial impact is significant. Italian banks are among the most likely globally to report substantial annual fraud losses. With the EU’s third Payment Services Directive (PSD3) and accompanying Payment Services Regulation (PSR) set to increase banks’ liability for certain types of fraud, the pressure to invest in real-time detection is only growing.

Based on a survey of 100 fraud and financial crime leaders at banks across Italy, this report explores where fraud teams are feeling the greatest pressure, which threats concern them most, and how prepared they feel for the regulatory and technological shifts ahead.

In these results, you’ll discover:

• Fraud losses are rising: More than two-thirds (68%) of respondents say fraud losses at their institution are increasing, with 21% describing those increases as significant. This places Italy among the countries reporting the sharpest rise in fraud losses.
• Annual fraud losses are among the highest globally: More than three-quarters (76%) of respondents say their institution loses more than $10 million to fraud each year, 25 percentage points above the global average and the highest proportion among the 17 countries surveyed.
• Scams seen as top threat: More than half (53%) of respondents identified social engineering scams as a top three threat facing their institution, with 18% ranking scams as the No. 1 risk.
• Scams are mobile: The most common scam-origination channels in Italy are all mobile ones. Italian banking leaders identified messaging apps (54%), social media (48%), and other phone apps (47%) as the most prominent threats.
• Investigations are slow: An overwhelming 91% of those surveyed say fraud investigations take more than a day to complete, with nearly one-third of respondents reporting investigation timelines of longer than two days.
• SEPA transfers raise fraud concerns as banks strengthen prevention: More than three-quarters (78%) of respondents believe Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) credit transfers will increase fraud risk at their institution. Meanwhile, 55% say their institution is actively procuring, implementing, or evaluating new fraud prevention solutions

Download the report to see the full results and accompanying analysis from our global fraud intelligence team.