AI in action · Investor protection

A Cloned Voice and a Fake WhatsApp Message Took €95 Million From an Italian Private Bank

Reuters reported on September 25, 2026 that fraudsters using AI to impersonate senior executives moved about €95 million ($108 million) out of Fideuram, the private-banking arm of Intesa Sanpaolo. The scheme began with a message that appeared to come from the group's chief executive and continued with a lawyer's cloned voice. About €36 million is still missing.

Oct 17, 2026

The largest AI-assisted fraud reported in European banking this year did not involve a trading algorithm or a hacked system. It involved a message and a phone call. According to Reuters, whose report was carried by Euronext and others on September 25, 2026, about €95 million left Fideuram, Intesa Sanpaolo's private bank, after fraudsters used artificial intelligence to impersonate senior executives.

The sequence, as reconstructed by Cybernews and Biometric Update from the Reuters account and Italian court documents, began in February with a WhatsApp message to Fideuram's then-chairman, Paolo Molesini, that appeared to come from Intesa's chief executive, Carlo Messina. A follow-up call used a cloned voice of Paolo Nastasi, a lawyer at A&O Shearman's Italian practice, who had nothing to do with the matter. The transfers that followed went mainly to accounts in China and Hong Kong.

Recovery has been partial. Reuters's sources said more than half of the money was recovered and about €36 million remains missing; other accounts put the recovered sum near €53 million through cooperation between authorities in China, Portugal and Italy, and court documents cited by crypto.news put the unrecovered loss at €39.5 million, part of it converted into cryptocurrency. Milan prosecutors have placed a foreign national living outside Europe under investigation for computer fraud. Molesini resigned as chairman in March, citing personal reasons; neither he nor other executives are under investigation, and Intesa and Fideuram declined to comment.

What makes the case instructive is that every control a bank would normally rely on was in place. The victim was a senior banker, the request appeared to come from the top of the group, and the voice on the phone belonged to a real lawyer at a real firm. The one thing missing was an independent channel: a call back to a known number, a second signature, a delay. That is also the defence available to any individual investor who receives an urgent request from someone whose face or voice they recognise.

Regulators have been saying the same thing for a year. Malaysia's central bank and securities regulator warned on October 14 that deepfakes of their own officials are being used to sell investment schemes; Oregon's financial regulator listed cloned voices and deepfake videos among the signs of AI-powered fraud in September. The Fideuram case shows the technique working on the people best placed to resist it.

Sources: Reuters (via Euronext) — AI messaging scam costs Italy's top bank Intesa millions, sources say (Sep 25, 2026); Cybernews — AI voice scam hits Italian bank for €95 million; Biometric Update — Italian bank loses $108M to AI messaging fraud (Oct 2026); Business Today Malaysia — BNM, SC warn public against deepfake investment scams (Oct 14, 2026)