2.9 million Italians have been targeted by utility bill scams, but the figure is falling: the telephone poses the greatest risk
Almost seven out of ten cases of fraud are carried out via fake call centres. 59.2 per cent of victims do not report the crime, and those most affected are people aged 35–44. Over the past three years, the number of people affected has fallen by 27 per cent
The caller knows the customer’s name, mentions the bill and usually presents themselves as the supplier: they talk about price rises, warn about terms and conditions, or offer a more favourable contract. This is still how the majority of scams work – the kind that, according to a survey commissioned by Facile.it and carried out by mUp Research, affected 2.9 million people in 2025 alone. The financial loss is estimated at nearly 650 million euros.
Call centres are becoming increasingly important
The old-fashioned telephone beats email and social media: 68.2 per cent of the scams identified by the research were carried out via a fake call centre. These are followed by fake emails, used in 24.9 per cent of cases, door-to-door sales in 12.9 per cent, messaging apps in 9.5 per cent and social media in 6 per cent.
A comparison with the same company’s previous survey shows just how much the role of telephone calls has grown: in 2023, fake call centres featured in 53 per cent of cases, whilst fake emails accounted for more than a third of cases.
However, the overall incidence of scams and attempted scams is falling: in 2023 it was estimated at 9.4 per cent, compared with 7 per cent in the latest survey. “There were 4 million victims of fraud; today that figure has fallen by 27 per cent,” says Maurizio Pescarini, managing director of Facile.it. Pescarini believes this result is primarily due to consumers being better informed, but the problem remains linked to the desire to save money: a very attractive offer can be an effective incentive.
“Scams evolve rapidly, become more sophisticated and capitalise precisely on times of greatest financial hardship and families’ need to save money,” says Luigi Gabriele, chairman of the non-profit organisation Consumerismo.
