Milan prosecutors investigate AI voice cloning fraud that targeted 95 million euros at Fideuram

The Fideuram operation

Milan prosecutors are investigating an international fraud scheme that used artificial intelligence voice cloning to target executive leadership at Italian financial institutions. The largest operation took place on 23 February 2026, when Paolo Molesini, then chairman of private bank Fideuram, received messages and phone calls impersonating Carlo Messina, the chief executive of parent group Intesa Sanpaolo. The fraudsters told Molesini that Fideuram needed to execute urgent international transfers to acquire a foreign bank, claiming direct parent action would cause leaks and regulatory scrutiny from Consob. To validate the transaction, the perpetrators placed a phone call mimicking the voice of Paolo Nastasi, managing partner of law firm A&O Shearman Italia.

Judge Sonia Mancini detailed the contact in court documents ordering international asset seizures:

Paolo Molesini was contacted on his corporate mobile phone, via WhatsApp message by an individual who, although calling him from a number different from the one known to him, claimed to be Carlo Messina.

Believing the order was legitimate, Molesini instructed his treasury to transfer nearly 95 million euros to accounts in China and Hong Kong. Fideuram identified anomalies soon after and triggered international interbank alerts. Authorities recovered between 53 million and 59 million euros, including 42 million euros blocked in China and over 13 million euros frozen in Portugal. Between 36 million and 39.5 million euros remains missing after conversion into cryptocurrencies. Molesini resigned from Fideuram in March 2026 citing personal reasons.

Parallel inquiries and asset recovery

Milan chief prosecutor Marcello Viola confirmed that magistrates are pursuing three distinct cases with similar methods. In May 2026, a manager at Banca Ifis authorized transactions worth 23.8 million euros after receiving spoofed emails appearing to originate from a colleague. The funds were routed through accounts in Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bahrain. Prosecutor Enrico Pavone obtained a preventive seizure order signed by judge Sara Cipolla, recovering 20 million euros in Barcelona.

A third inquiry led by prosecutor Barbara Benzi involves roughly 2 million euros taken from a smaller bank, with part of that sum recovered in Croatia. In the Fideuram inquiry, prosecutors Benzi and Alfonso Serritiello have placed a 48-year-old Israeli computer scientist under formal investigation for aggravated fraud.

Rising synthetic audio fraud

The Milan investigations coincide with broader data on cyber fraud across Italy. Figures from the postal police record over 269 million euros in online fraud losses during the past year. Fraud attempts using synthetic audio and deepfakes grew by more than 1,300% over the period, according to the Cyber Observatory. Attackers generate cloned voices from brief public recordings, adapting executive impersonation tactics seen in prior corporate fraud cases.