Italy is in sixth place in the world by email stolen, to the twenty -second for credit cards in circulation and to the sixteenth in Europe for compromised telephone numbers, often used for scams such as Smishing or Phishing. This was revealed by an investigation by the Cyber Observatory of CRIF, which highlights how over 1,180,000 Alerts were sent to the first half of 2025 for exposure of online personal data. Most of the reports, equal to 1,150,000, concerns the Dark Web, which remains the main illegal exchange channel of digital information. However, cases on the Open Web also grow, where notifications have reached 33,700, an increase of forty -three percent compared to the previous semester.
In our country, over a third of users, equal to 36.4 percent, received at least an alert. In the vast majority of cases, equal to the eighty -six per cents, the violation concerns data intercepted on the Dark Web. Our country occupies the sixth placed globally for stolen e-mail addresses, the twenty-second for credit cards in the illegal circulation and the sixteenth in Europe for compromised telephone numbers, often used as a base for demashing and phishing campaigns.
The regions with the largest number of Alert are Lazio with 17.1 percent, Lombardy with 14.7 percent, Sicily with 9.3 percent and Campania with 7.9 percent. If you consider the population, the inhabitants of Molise, Piedmont, Umbria and Valle d’Aosta are more exposed. From the registry point of view, the most involved bands are those between 51 and 60 years with 26.7 percent, followed for 41-50 years and over 60, both equal to 25.6 percent.
On the data displayed, the Open Web mainly shows e-mail with 51.6 percent and tax codes with 43.8 percent, while on the dark web the access credentials prevail. In 91.7 percent of cases, emails are compatted with passwords, and in 42.1 percent they emerge numbers of credit cards complete with expiry date and safety codes, a growing figure of over 11 points compared to the previous semester.
The analysis also highlights the emergence of new scams. The fraud of the counterfeit QR Code is spread, applied on parrometers or public places, which refer to malicious sites to subtract data and money. Another strong practice is the so -called Like scam, conveyed through social networks and messaging apps, which promises easy earnings in exchange for online interactions and turns into a fraudulent scheme.
© RESERVED REPRODUCTION