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In February 2026, scammers used AI-generated voice cloning to impersonate a prominent lawyer, convincing the chairman of the Italian private bank Fideuram to authorize fraudulent wire transfers. The attackers, posing as the CEO of the parent company Intesa Sanpaolo via WhatsApp and a cloned voice call, successfully directed approximately €95 million to overseas accounts. While authorities and the bank managed to recover a significant portion of the funds, approximately €36 million remains missing after being converted into cryptocurrencies.
Scammers allegedly used an AI-cloned lawyer's voice to validate a WhatsApp request impersonating the CEO of Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo. Fideuram, its private-banking subsidiary, reportedly transferred about €95 million overseas after its chairman accepted the instructions. Part of the money was recovered, but tens of millions reportedly remained missing. Milan prosecutors opened a fraud investigation.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
The incident involved scammers using AI voice cloning to impersonate a trusted lawyer to execute a high-value financial fraud against a bank executive.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
The incident was initiated by human scammers who intentionally deployed a voice cloning AI tool post-deployment to commit financial fraud.
Added categories peak at 2: Minor (Psychological Harm, Inferred)
International scammers used AI voice cloning to impersonate a lawyer, defrauding an Italian private bank of 95 million euros (36 million euros unrecovered). While a highly sophisticated financial crime representing an evolved AI threat capability, the incident has minor national security implications as it did not target critical infrastructure, government functions, or economic stability.
The AI system acted as a Tool, specifically for voice generation/cloning. The reports state that the scammers used AI tools to replicate the lawyer's voice ('voci ricreate e identiche a quelle reali' / 'replicata ad arte con strumenti di intelligenza artificiale'). The AI did not act autonomously or make decisions; it merely executed the voice synthesis based on direct inputs provided by the human fraudsters.
Limited Risk: The system used is an AI-generated content tool (deepfake/voice clone). The EU AI Act classifies AI-generated content such as deepfakes under Limited Risk, requiring transparency obligations, though in this case, it was used maliciously by bad actors.
The AI system was used specifically to clone and generate the voice of a prominent lawyer to deceive the bank chairman.
The reports from multiple reputable sources (ANSA, Corriere della Sera, Reuters) are highly consistent regarding the core facts: the date, the target (Fideuram/Molesini), the amount stolen (95 million euros), the amount recovered, and the use of AI voice cloning to impersonate a lawyer. There is very little ambiguity about the sequence of events.
None. It is clearly a case of AI-enabled financial fraud.
Technology
AI Voice Cloning
Replicated a known lawyer's voice to confirm fraudulent instructions.
WhatsApp Spoofing
Impersonated Intesa CEO via chat to initiate the contact.
Email Spoofing
Perfectly crafted emails made to look like they came from a real law firm.
Data Inputs
Voice Data Availability
Target's voice was accessible enough to train the AI cloning tool.
Corporate Context Leakage
Knowledge of failed Generali acquisition made the scam highly credible.
Human Factors
Authority Bias
Chairman complied due to believing the request came from the group CEO.
Urgency Manipulation
Fraudsters induced panic and demand for speed to bypass normal checks.
Process and Methods
Weak Out-of-Band Verification
Lack of independent verification of the identity of the calling lawyer.
Flawed Transfer Approvals
Finance department executed huge transfers based on verbal instructions.
Management
Inadequate Risk Assessment
Failed to evaluate risks associated with AI-driven social engineering.
Lack of Executive Training
Executives were not trained to recognize voice cloning or deepfakes.
Regulatory Environment
Weak AI Safety Regulations
Lack of regulatory guardrails on the deployment of voice cloning tools.
Crypto Regulatory Gaps
Allowed rapid conversion of stolen fiat currency into untraceable crypto.
AI system involved
An AI system was involved, but the reports do not identify it.
Identified by automated extraction; can differ from the alleged developers above.
