Fraudsters Use AI Impersonation to Steal $108 Million from Italy’s Fideuram
Fraudsters stole €95 million ($108 million) from Fideuram, the private banking arm of Italy’s largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, after using artificial intelligence to impersonate senior figures, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
The scheme began in February when Paolo Molesini, then chairman of Fideuram, received a WhatsApp message that appeared to be from Intesa Sanpaolo CEO Carlo Messina, requesting urgent help with an overseas transaction. A subsequent call appeared to come from a senior lawyer confirming the instructions. According to the sources, the fraudsters used AI to replicate the lawyer’s voice.
Believing the request was genuine, Molesini instructed Fideuram’s finance department to make a series of transfers to foreign accounts, mainly in China and Hong Kong.
Fideuram later detected irregularities and alerted banks and authorities in several countries. Cooperation between authorities in China, Portugal and Italy helped recover approximately €53 million. Around €36 million remains missing after passing through overseas accounts and being converted into cryptocurrencies, the sources said.
Neither Molesini nor any other Fideuram executive is under investigation. Milan prosecutors are investigating a foreign national living outside Europe on suspicion of computer fraud, according to one of the sources.
Intesa Sanpaolo and Fideuram declined to comment.
