AI Voice Scam Costs Italy’s Fideuram €95 Million

Fraudsters using an AI-cloned voice and a fake WhatsApp message persuaded Fideuram, the private banking arm of Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo, to transfer €95 million to overseas accounts, according to two people familiar with the case cited by Reuters. The bank has recovered more than half the money, but about €36 million remains missing. The case began with a message apparently from Intesa chief executive Carlo Messina and a follow-up call that seemed to confirm his request.

The scheme began in February, when Paolo Molesini, then chairman of Fideuram, received what appeared to be a WhatsApp message from Messina asking for urgent help with an overseas transaction.

A subsequent call appeared to come from a senior partner at a prominent law firm and backed up the instruction. The people familiar with the case told Reuters that the callers 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. The bank later identified irregularities and alerted banks and authorities in several countries.

About €53 million was recovered through cooperation involving authorities in China, Portugal and Italy, according to the sources. They said the remaining money had passed through overseas accounts and was converted into cryptocurrencies. Intesa Sanpaolo and Fideuram declined to comment to Reuters.

Neither Molesini nor other Fideuram executives are under investigation, the sources said. Milan prosecutors have placed a foreign national living outside Europe under investigation on suspicion of computer fraud, according to one of the sources.

Image: Tech360TV (AI-generated illustration)

Source: Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/ai-messaging-scam-costs-italys-top-bank-intesa-millions-sources-say-2026-09-25/