AI Deepfake Scam: €95 Million Stolen From Italy's Fideuram Using Fake Executive Calls

Fraudsters used artificial intelligence to impersonate senior banking and legal executives in a sophisticated scam that resulted in the theft of €95 million from Fideuram, the private banking arm of Italy’s largest lender, Intesa Sanpaolo, according to sources cited by AML Intelligence.

The scam reportedly began in February when then-Fideuram Chairman Paolo Molesini received a WhatsApp message that appeared to have been sent by Intesa Sanpaolo CEO Carlo Messina. The message sought urgent assistance with an overseas financial transaction.

The fraudsters then escalated the deception with a phone call allegedly appearing to come from a senior partner at a major law firm. Sources said AI technology was used to replicate the lawyer’s voice, making the request appear legitimate.

Convinced that the instructions were genuine, Molesini directed Fideuram’s finance department to execute several transfers to overseas accounts, primarily in China and Hong Kong.

€53 Million Recovered

The irregular transactions were detected shortly after the transfers were made, prompting Fideuram to alert banks and law-enforcement agencies in multiple countries.

International cooperation involving authorities in Italy, China and Portugal helped recover approximately €53 million. However, around €36 million remains untraced, according to the sources.

The unrecovered money is believed to have moved through a network of overseas accounts before being converted into cryptocurrency, making the trail significantly harder to follow.

Intesa Sanpaolo and Fideuram have declined to on the case, which was initially reported by Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Chairman Resigned After The Incident

Molesini resigned as Fideuram chairman in March, citing personal reasons. The bank did not provide further details his departure at the time.

Sources said neither Molesini nor other Fideuram executives are under investigation in connection with the fraud. Milan prosecutors have, however, reportedly placed a foreign national living outside Europe under investigation on suspicion of computer fraud.

The incident highlights how AI-generated voices and social-engineering techniques can be combined with trusted communication platforms such as WhatsApp to make fraudulent instructions appear authentic.

The case also follows a similar incident in Italy last year, when scammers reportedly used an AI-generated imitation of an Italian minister’s voice to convince businessman Massimo Moratti to transfer nearly €1 million to an overseas account. That money was subsequently recovered.

As AI-powered impersonation becomes increasingly sophisticated, the Fideuram case demonstrates how even high-value financial transactions can be manipulated through convincing digital identities and seemingly legitimate instructions.

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