Kathmandu. About 95 million euros were stolen from Fideuram, the private banking arm of Italy’s largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, using AI to create fake identities of high-ranking officials. About 53 million euros have been recovered from the stolen money in the case, but about 36 million euros have not yet been found.
In the scam, which is said to have started in February, the then president of Fideuram, Paolo Molesini, was sent a message via WhatsApp in the name of Carlo Messina, the CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo. The message asked for help in doing business abroad immediately. It was followed by a call from a senior partner of a large law firm. According to sources, the fraud group used AI technology to mimic the voice of the lawyer. Believing that the instructions were genuine, Molesini instructed Fideuram’s finance department to send the money to accounts abroad. Most of the money was sent to accounts in China and Hong Kong.
Fideuram immediately informed the concerned bank and officials of various countries after the unusual transaction was observed. According to sources, with the cooperation of the authorities of China, Portugal and Italy, about 53 million euros were able to be repatriated. The rest of the money was transferred through various foreign accounts and converted into cryptocurrencies and could not be traced so far.
Intesa Sanpaolo and Fideuram declined to comment on the incident. According to sources, neither Molesini nor other Fideuram officials are being investigated. However, Milan prosecutors have opened an investigation into a foreign national living outside Europe on suspicion of cyberfraud. Molesini resigned as Fideuram’s chairman in March, citing personal reasons.
Earlier, there was a case of using AI to mimic the voice of an Italian minister and get businessman Massimo Moratti to send about 10 million euros to an account abroad. The money was later returned.
