Scammers used artificial intelligence to mimic the voice of a prominent lawyer and managed to trick the CEO of a major Italian bank into approving transfers totaling 95 million euros. Although a large part of the money has been recovered, about 36 million euros are still missing.

The fraud targeted Fideuram, the private banking division of Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest banking group. According to Reuters, the scam began in February when Fideuram’s then-chairman Paolo Molesini received a WhatsApp message that appeared to come from Intesa Sanpaolo’s CEO Carlo Messina.

The message claimed that the bank urgently needed help with an overseas business deal, and that Fideuram needed to make payments on behalf of the group.

AI voice confirmed the instructions

The scammers didn’t stop at the fake WhatsApp message. Shortly thereafter, Molesini received a phone call from someone claiming to be a senior partner at a well-known law firm. The purpose of the call was to confirm that the supposed deal and the instructions from Intesa Sanpaolo’s CEO were genuine.

According to information given to Reuters, the scammers had used AI to copy the lawyer’s voice. As a result, Molesini found the phone call convincing. He then instructed Fideuram’s finance department to carry out a series of transfers to foreign bank accounts. The money was mainly sent to accounts in China and Hong Kong.

In total, around 95 million euros—equivalent to nearly a billion Swedish kronor—was transferred out of the bank. Global Banking & Finance also describes how the combination of a fake message and an AI-generated voice was used to make the instructions appear legitimate.

36 million euros still missing

Fideuram’s internal systems reacted relatively quickly to the unusual transactions. The bank then contacted banks and authorities in several countries to try to stop and trace the payments.

Through cooperation among Italian, Chinese, and Portuguese authorities, more than half of the money was recovered.

However, about 36 million euros are still missing. According to investigators, the money has been moved through a network of accounts in various countries and has subsequently partly been converted into cryptocurrencies.

None of Fideuram’s executives are suspected of any crime. Prosecutors in Milan, however, have initiated an investigation against a person residing outside Europe suspected of computer fraud. Italian media later reported that the investigation is, among other things, tracking the path of the money through foreign bank accounts and crypto wallets.

Molesini resigned as Fideuram’s chairman in March, citing personal reasons. At the time, the bank gave no further explanation for his departure.

Similar AI Scam Against Billionaire

This is not the first time a high-profile AI scam has been carried out using similar methods in Italy. In 2025, scammers who imitated the voice of an Italian minister convinced businessman and former Inter owner Massimo Moratti to transfer nearly one million euros to a foreign account. In that case, the money was later recovered.

The new case also demonstrates how traditional social engineering can be combined with AI-generated voices to make scams much more convincing. Instead of only forging emails or messages, scammers can now actually sound like the person they claim to be.