Consumer's Telegram March 2025

Insert of n. 22 - Editorial office: Centro Europeo Consumatori (European Consumer Centre Italy - Bolzano office)

SUSPICIOUS MESSAGES

‘Hello, can I talk to you for a moment?’

It seems an innocuous, almost banal message, but behind this simple phrase a digital trap is hiding as was reported to the European Consumer Centre (ECC) by some consumers. It all starts with an apparently advantageous proposal: earn small rewards by liking videos or posts on social networks. Consumers are then invited to join ‘exclusive’ groups to collaborate with famous brands, with the promise of bigger rewards. But within the restricted group, consumers receive very strong pressure to make payments or money transfers, with the promise of achieving phantom prizes and rewards. In the cases reported to the ECC, this system of psychological pressure led to consumers losing large amounts of money, with deposits of more than €40,000 in one case and even more than €300,000 in another. Amounts that, unfortunately, are almost certainly to be considered gone forever. For more information on the topic.

TOLL FEES IN AUSTRIA

Beware of fake shops

Motorway users in Austria have to pay a toll in the form of a ‘vignette’, which can be purchased as a daily, 10-day, bi-monthly or annual ticket. For certain motorway segments, payment of a specific additional toll (‘Streckenmaut’) is required, too. The vignette sticker must be affixed correctly in order to be valid; alternatively, the vignette can also be purchased in digital format. In this regard, the Austrian portal Watchlist Internet (https://www.watchlist-internet.at/news/fake-onlineshop-asfinag/) warns of online scam sites that perfectly imitate the original Asfinag motorway webshop and steal money (and personal data) from unwary consumers, who think they have paid a particularly low toll price, but actually end up travelling on the motorway without a valid ‘vignette’. In this way, they not only lose the money they paid, but also expose themselves to the penalties for non-payment of the toll.
For more information on tolls in Austria.


TRAVEL

Travel requirements for UK are about to change

Whereas until now, EU citizens only needed a passport to travel to the UK for short time stays (such as for a holiday, to visit relatives or even just for transit), from 2nd April 2025 an ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) will also be required. This is not a visa, but an authorisation to travel provided for short stays: a fee will be charged for it (10 GBP) and the ETA has to be requested through the app or on the dedicated UK government website. It is therefore crucial to be careful (as is also the case for the equivalent ESTA for example, which is used to travel to the United States) not to fall into the traps of unofficial sites, which offer to procure the authorisation at a much higher price, while stealing sensitive information and documents (such as the passport scan required for the ETA).

CASE OF THE MONTH
A German consumer rented a car, which broke down on the last day of her holiday. Nevertheless, the consumer had to catch her return flight in a hurry. The Italian car rental company told her to wait until the mechanic arrived to check the vehicle's functionality, but the consumer informed the company that she could not wait and asked if she could leave the key at the hotel reception. The company agreed. However, the female consumer was subsequently charged for the lost car key and the fuel that had subsequently been refilled in the tank by the car rental company.
The consumer contacted ECC Germany, who forwarded the case to ECC Italy: thanks to our intervention, the trader cancelled the invoice and did not charge any costs.