Scams when moving to Italy: schemes, where to report

In short: most scam stories in the chats of people moving to Italy start the same way - someone asks a question in the group chat (exchange rubles, rent a flat, buy a ticket, book a visa appointment), and within minutes a "helper" writes in private and asks for a prepayment. One rule covers most cases: never send money to a stranger before the service is delivered, and never tell anyone a code from an SMS. Italian public bodies and Poste Italiane never ask for such codes. If money has already gone, call the bank first, then file a denuncia with the Polizia di Stato or the Carabinieri. Below: what exactly shows up in the chats and how often, how to check, where to report, and which articles in this section cover each scheme. This is not legal advice.

What scams come up most often?

What real public bodies and Poste Italiane never ask for

This section was checked against the official pages on 30.09.2026.

• Poste Italiane states that neither it nor the authorities will ever, in any form (e-mail, SMS, social media chats, call centre, post office, fraud prevention office), ask you to transfer money, give card details, a one-time OTP code or passwords to "protect your savings", nor open a new account in your name. It also stresses that instant transfers are irrevocable.
• INPS writes in its anti-fraud vademecum that it does not request personal or bank data by phone and does not send staff to people's homes. Typical fake SMS in INPS's name: update your data to receive a payment; confirm your data so a payment is not interrupted; update your profile so it is not suspended. INPS says it blocks such domains together with CERT-AGID, but scammers open new ones.
• What such messages are after, according to INPS: an identity document with a selfie, bank details and access to SPID. With them scammers open SPID and accounts in your name and take out loans.

If a message from an "agency" rushes you and leads to a link, do not tap it - open the official site or app yourself. More on SPID and keeping it safe in SPID.

I nearly fell for a visura at a ridiculous price - and in the small print it was a monthly subscription, not a one-off payment. Luckily I noticed in time. Now I only buy where they honestly ask their 10-15 euro for one document. Cheaper than "normal" in such things almost always means a catch.

Where do you report a scam in Italy?

1. The bank first. If money has gone or you gave out a code, call your bank or Poste immediately: block the card and logins, try to stop or dispute the transaction. The bank will need a copy of the police complaint for the dispute.
2. Denuncia. A criminal complaint is filed at any Polizia di Stato office or with the Carabinieri. Bring the chat history, screenshots of the profile, the details you paid to, and receipts.
3. Online fraud - Polizia Postale. The Commissariato di PS online website has a "Segnala online" form for reporting phishing and online fraud. The Polizia Postale itself says the form does not replace a denuncia.
4. Online denuncia - still a pilot. The Denunce Online portal (login with SPID or CIE, also in the IO app) accepts a pre-complaint for some offences, confirmed in person within 48 hours, but as of 30.09.2026 only in pilot questure, including Rieti and Frosinone. Loss of an identity card, bank cards and some other items can be reported there without a visit, but not a passport or a permesso. On stolen documents see passport stolen or lost in Italy.
5. An urgent threat - the single emergency number 112.
6. In the chat, write to the admins: according to the chats, moderators blacklist such accounts.

They turned me down for an account, pointed to some automatic stop and refused to give a written reason. What saved me was getting through to the bank's head office, while keeping a complaint to the anti-discrimination body ready. In Italy a great deal is won through persistence and live contact, not through correspondence with offices.

A bank refusing you because of your passport is not a scam, but it is a common pain for the same people: how to deal with it is covered in which bank will open an account for a Russian.

Intermediaries: where a service ends and a scam begins

Paid help with paperwork is a normal service. The red flag is a guaranteed result that nobody can guarantee, money up front without a contract, and avoiding direct contact. What shows up in the chats:

• A bait price: the starting amount is lowballed and the total is built from mandatory extras; in one case the bill doubled because of a separate paid meeting.
• Payments without progress: new requests for money and papers with no movement on the case are a reason to end the contract - per the community, people lost a year this way.
• Paying the state "through a specialist": the chats describe cases where tax amounts were sent to an accountant who never passed them on to the treasury. Pay your F24 yourself and keep the receipts.
• A visa guarantee: paying an intermediary does not insure against refusal; the consulate decides. A request for more documents is not yet a refusal - per the community it was resolved by sending the missing papers.

The dangerous stuff is obvious at once: a nice starting price that later gathers unavoidable add-ons; promises of a lightning result for a Moscow filing; selling the visa as a guarantee; and any demand to pay cash for what should be free. Ask several specialists, put everything in the contract, and remember that a request for more documents is not the end: it is regularly overturned by sending the papers. This is not legal advice; check the requirements on the official sites.

The full provider checklist and what patronato and CAF do for free are in Intermediaries and fixers: what to pay for.

Small traps: visura, queue tickets, slot resellers

• Online visura (a company register extract): per the community a normal price is about 10-15 euro per document; offers "for a couple of euro" often turn out to be a monthly subscription.
• A fee for the queue ticket at a visa centre: the chats describe an episode where a separate charge was taken from everyone for the queue ticket itself. There should be no extra charges for basic steps.
• Appointment resellers: they buy up free dates and resell them, so honest applicants only get dates right before departure. A separate fee "for a slot" is a red flag; check the current fees on vistoperitalia.esteri.it.

When I got a demand to add documents, I had already written everything off in my head. Wrongly - it was not a refusal. I asked for more time, collected what was missing, sent it - and the visa was approved in the end. So panicking at that stage is premature.

Articles in this section

• Red flags when moving to Italy - fake EU passports, bogus invitations, misinformation about quotas and blind housing deposits.
• Intermediaries and fixers: what to pay for - what patronato and CAF do for free, the full provider checklist and when paid help is justified.
• P2P crypto in Italy without being scammed - escrow, test amount, payment reversal and the money trail for an Italian bank.

Related articles

• Crypto tax in Italy - what to report to the tax office after swapping crypto.
• Moving money from Russia to Italy - routes and how to prove the source of funds to a bank.
• How to send money to Italy - routes with the dates of the latest chat reports.
• Passport stolen or lost in Italy - denuncia and replacing documents.
• Money, taxes and the relocation budget - what paperwork really costs and where not to overpay.
• Choosing a route and grounds - how not to buy the "wrong" path from an intermediary.

Official sources

• Poste Italiane: how to protect yourself from scams - what Poste and the authorities never ask for, and that instant transfers are irrevocable.
• INPS: anti-fraud vademecum and examples of fake SMS.
• Polizia Postale, Commissariato di PS online - the "Segnala online" form and details of the Denunce Online pilot.
• Polizia di Stato: poliziadistato.it, questure - questure.poliziadistato.it
• Visas and fees, Italian Foreign Ministry: vistoperitalia.esteri.it
• Italian Interior Ministry and immigration: interno.gov.it, portaleimmigrazione.it
• Prefectures (including anti-discrimination complaints): prefettura.it

Frequently asked questions

What scams do people moving to Italy run into most often?

In three Russian-language Italy chats up to June 2026, scammers most often approach someone by private message right after that person asks a question in the group chat - about currency exchange, housing, tickets or a visa. Then they ask for a prepayment, a deposit or a code from an SMS. Less often the chats discuss intermediaries who guarantee a visa, resold visa-centre appointments, fake quota job offers and SMS pretending to be from INPS or Poste. This is not legal advice.

Can INPS, Poste Italiane or a bank ask for an SMS code or a money transfer?

No. Poste Italiane states that neither it nor the authorities will ever, in any form, ask you to transfer money, give card details, a one-time OTP code or passwords to 'protect your savings'. INPS states that it does not request personal or bank data by phone and does not send staff to people's homes. Such a message or call is a scam. This is not legal advice.

Where do you report a scam in Italy?

A criminal complaint (denuncia) is filed at any Polizia di Stato office or with the Carabinieri; bring the chat history, payment details and receipts. Online fraud can be reported to the Polizia Postale through the Commissariato di PS online website, but that is a report, not a denuncia. An online pre-complaint confirmed in person within 48 hours is so far accepted only in pilot questure, including Rieti and Frosinone. In an emergency call 112. This is not legal advice.

Can I get money back after an instant transfer to a scammer?

Poste Italiane warns that instant transfers (bonifico istantaneo) are irrevocable. The only chance is to call your bank at once, block the card and logins, and then file a denuncia: the bank needs a copy of the complaint to dispute the transaction. Safer still is never to prepay strangers. This is not legal advice.

Can Italian citizenship be bought or sped up for money?

No. Italian citizenship is granted only through the state procedure, with the application filed online with the Italian Interior Ministry, and no intermediary can sell or guarantee it. The chats barely discuss such offers (2 mentions in 2022 - June 2026), while under posts about citizenship timelines moderators warn that scammers will write in private. This is not legal advice.

Related materials - Scams and red flags

• Red flags when moving to Italy: scams
• Intermediaries and helpers: what to pay for
• P2P crypto in Italy: no scams

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