In the last year, 4 million Italians have been victims of a scam or attempted fraud in the field of electricity and gas bills, a 28% increase over the previous year, with an estimated damage of over 1.2 billion euros, more than doubling the previous survey conducted in May 2022 (+152%). The survey* commissioned by Facile.it to mUp Research and Norstat yielded impressive results, shedding light on a constantly growing phenomenon and prompting Facile.it and the Consumerismo No Profit association to join forces and skills to bring the Stop Fraud project to life. The initiative was created specifically to provide Italian consumers with a website (Stopalletruffe.it) where they can find concrete tools to identify risks and avoid falling into a trap when switching electricity and gas suppliers. According to the survey, among the major items of family expenditure, electricity and gas bills are the most affected by criminals, who frequently use the telephone or door-to-door to reach their victims. Looking at the methods of fraud, it is clear that the fake call center is the most commonly used tool for this type of fraud, with a percentage that has increased from 44% to 53% in a year, while in one out of every five cases, the scammer knocked directly on the victim's door (21%). There is no shortage of web fraud, so much so that, according to the survey, 34% of victims were duped by a false e-mail, while 14% were duped by a fake website, a figure that nearly doubled from last year (+90%). On the other hand, malefactors' use of instant messaging apps and social networks is decreasing, despite the fact that these are the tools through which 5% and 4% of respondents have been scammed, respectively.
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