Following more than a thousand complaints from Italian citizens, the Rome Public Prosecutor has launched an investigation into the legality of the site www.italia-programmi.net, operated by Extended Limited and based in the Seychelles.
The offences outlined by Assistant Prosecutor Nello Rossi and by Prosecutor Attorneys Maria Teresa Gregori and Nicola Maiorano are those of fraud and attempted fraud against users of the site.
As previously reported on our blog, italia-programmi.net visitors were subscribing through a normal registration process and basically without their knowledge to a two-year contract for the provision of software at an annual cost of €96. Subsequently, having failed to communicate confirmation of the completion of the contracts, the company Estesa Limited began sending ordinary and registered mail to users demanding payment and threatening them with legal action in the case of default.
The Italian Postal Police is cooperating in the investigation and has started to carry out the checks required by the Competition and Market Authority which has received over 4000 complaints from citizens. It is estimated that the total sum resulting from this fraudulent activity could amount to €100 thousand.
Given the significant number of people currently involved in the fraud, the Authority has recently published a warning note on its website as a reminder that, by a deliberation adopted on the 25th of August as a precautionary measure it has ordered the company Extended Limited “to stop sending demands for payment as, according to initial assessments, they appear related to business conduct in violation of the Consumer’s Code.” Thus, the Authority points out that such demands are sent by Extended Limited in evident violation of its deliberation.
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