Is it true that checks are not used as a form of payment in Italy? That they use bank transfers more readily?

When a friend of mine requested my Mother's bank account information so he could have his bank transfer money directly into her account this made me feel uneasy. He says they don't use checks in Italy where he lives most of the year and instead of going to pick up a money order he thought it would be better to just give him her bank info. Don't they worry about fraud and identity theft in Italy or wherever else this kind of money changing takes place?Is it true that checks are not used as a form of payment in Italy? That they use bank transfers more readily?
This is very common in Europe. And yes, it is disconcerting at first for us Americans. It is very easy to put money into a European bank account (why stop them?), taking it out is not so easy. Having your bank account info from a Euro bank is not going to do a thief much good unless they want to secretly give you cash. I lived in Europe 3 years and wrote maybe 3 checks the whole time (or what we would call a check - it's a pain). I quite like it.Is it true that checks are not used as a form of payment in Italy? That they use bank transfers more readily?
European governments are discouraging checks, that are considered less safe, more fraud prone and costlier to process, in favor of electronic payments, and they are revising the whole system to make electronic payments smoother, safer.





';Spend less time handling your payments


The long-term goal is to ban paper and to use only electronic payments. Payments can then be combined with value-added services that make the process of paying even simpler';