The beginning of the incident dates back to February of this year. It is reported that an urgent WhatsApp message was sent to Paolo Molesini, who was Fideuram’s chairman at the time, seemingly from Intesa Sanpaolo CEO Carlo Messina. The message was followed by a phone call that appeared to be from a senior partner of a well-known law firm. Reuters’ sources say that the voice in the call was imitated with artificial intelligence technology.
It is reported that under Molesini’s instructions, the finance unit made a series of transfers, especially to accounts in China and Hong Kong. The bank then noticed irregularities in transactions and contacted banks and authorities in different countries. A significant part of the money was recovered through this cooperation. It is stated that the remaining 36 million euros may have been converted into crypto assets after passing through different accounts.
Here, 95 million euros is the total transfer amount directed by fraudsters; should not be read as the bank’s ultimate loss. Likewise, the tool or model used to produce the voice imitation has not been publicly verified. It would not be right to present the method cited by sources speaking to Reuters as all the finalized technical findings of the investigation. Intesa Sanpaolo and Fideuram also did not comment to the agency.
Two more similar bank files are being examined in Milan
According to the Italian news agency ANSA, the Milan prosecutor’s office is investigating two separate bank frauds using similar methods. There are transactions worth approximately 24 million euros in one of the files, and approximately 2 million euros in the other. However, the agency states that these investigations are separate from the Fideuram file. It has not been concluded that a single organization carried out the three incidents.
In the Fideuram file, it is reported that a person living abroad is being investigated on suspicion of computer fraud. According to Reuters’ sources, Molesini and other bank executives are not among the suspects in the investigation. This distinction is important; News about how the incident occurred should not turn into unproven accusations against the people involved.
The technically remarkable aspect of the incident is not the cloned sound alone. The message sent with a fake identity, the request that creates a sense of urgency, and the call impersonating a trusted person are all part of the same chain. On the other hand, the familiarity of a voice is no substitute for independent verification for large transfers. Although the bank’s retrieval effort saved some transfers, the outcome of the investigation and the fate of the remaining money will be determined by the statements of the authorities.