Italia-Programmi.net has been blocked after Giorgio Napolitano also appears to have received the payment injunction.
Perhaps the time has come to close the case of “Italia-Programmi.net“: the site, now known for having asked many Italians to pay subscription fees for software downloads, has finally been shut down.
Despite numerous reports and some fines imposed for carrying out a scam against unsuspecting users, convinced they were about to download free software, the website Italia-Programmi.net remained accessible. Until today.
Apparently the usual letter – demanding payment of 96 euros plus 8.50 euros for various expenses related to software downloads – was sent all the way to the Quirinale, addressed to the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano.
It seems that this very circumstance triggered the first real public reaction against the portal, causing its shutdown, at least for the time being.
In fact, this is not the end of the matter: the shutdown – carried out by the Milan Prosecutor’s Office – is only precautionary, awaiting further investigations and decisions.
It is well known that in recent months the Italia-Programmi site continued to operate as usual, despite being under close scrutiny by the authorities. It did so, however, by applying a trick: during the day, roughly around the usual office hours of public offices and especially the Antitrust Authority, the site’s homepage displayed a notice inviting users to open an account for 8 euros.
Presented this way, the issue seemed resolved as it was transparent and obvious. In reality, in the evening and nighttime hours everything reverted to the previous state: the polite notice was gone and replaced by the simpler “Create account” button, which triggered the registration process and the request for personal data, soon followed by a payment injunction letter.
Many users, frightened and uncertain about what to do, decided to pay, transferring the requested amount to an IBAN which was discovered to belong to a bank account in Cyprus, opened by a company based in the Seychelles.
A complex money-laundering “nested doll” scheme, therefore, which, although reported and identified, was not completely stopped.
Developments are awaited following this official move by the Italian authorities.
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