In 2025 alone, more than 1.2 million Italians were victims of a scam or attempted fraud in the field of investments, with an average loss of €1,770. These are some of the findings from a poll commissioned by Facile.it, a company that acts as a comparison, promotion, and brokerage site for insurance, financial products, electricity, gas, fiber optics, and long-term vehicle rental rates, conducted by the research institutes mUp Research and Norstat. According to calculations, the total losses incurred in just 12 months exceed €1.8 billion. Analyzing the survey results—conducted on a representative sample of the Italian adult population—and studying the characteristics of those who have been victims of financial scams yields intriguing data. The first is that the phenomenon is more prevalent among men than in women. From a demographic perspective, it's significant that younger people are the ones targeted by criminals, primarily those between the ages of 18 and 24. When it comes to financial or investment frauds, threats are most usually sent via smartphone messages (1 in 4), both traditional SMS and modern instant messaging apps. 21 % of scams are sent through bogus call centers, 19% through websites, and 17.5% via phishing emails. Criminals are increasingly using social media sites to gain followers and gather potential victims (12%). But which strategies are most common? From the promise of easy money to fake financial gurus, from relationship investments to "Ponzi schemes", from cryptocurrencies marketed as fully safe and profitable to "pump & dump" (a clever fraud that takes advantage of so-called "FOMO").