Former Fideuram president Paolo Molesini was the victim of a €36 million scam involving a fake WhatsApp message and a phone call manipulated with artificial intelligence.
Corriere della Sera reported today. The international scam dates back to last February when Molesini, then president of Fideuram (a subsidiary of Intesa), received—in reality, he believed he was receiving, as he realized shortly afterward—a WhatsApp message from Carlo Messina, director of the parent company Banca Intesa.
In the message, the fictitious Messina stresses the urgency of making a series of transfers through Fideuram's treasury (due to practical reasons that would prevent Intesa from making them on its own) to secure the opportunity to secure a financial transaction abroad that Intesa is interested in. The gang then fakes another coherent message to the president of Fideuram: this time, the caller (or rather, the one who appears to be calling) is a lawyer from a major international firm, Paolo Nastasi, managing partner of A&O Shearman Italia, a completely unrelated and unaware person, who is being used as an intermediary in the scam for the transaction advocated by the fictitious Messina.
He's a corporate lawyer Moresini knows, and if the voice sounds exactly like that, it's because the scammers have expertly replicated it using artificial intelligence tools. Thus, wire transfers totaling approximately €95 million were sent, mostly to China and Hong Kong. However, the alarm was raised, and Fideuram activated its international interbank collaboration systems, allowing the recovery of a large portion of the loot. At least €36 million was still missing, having vanished into cryptocurrencies. Investigators are now trying to track down the funds with letters rogatory around the world before the scammers can monetize them.
At least one name has been registered as a suspect for months , a foreigner who may also be a fictitious identity, in the Milan Prosecutor's Office investigation. The precautionary seizure order, which lists the name of a foreigner and was signed by investigating judge Sonia Mancini, dates back to last May and allowed €13 million to be frozen in a Portuguese bank. Over €40 million had already been frozen in China because Fideuram, a bank belonging to the Banca Intesa group, had immediately taken action. The remaining funds—€95 million had been transferred via multiple transactions to China and Portugal—returned from that Portuguese bank and converted into bitcoin before investigators, thanks in part to international cooperation with multiple rogatory letters, were able to intervene. Meanwhile, the Prosecutor's Office, with Deputy Eugenio Fusco and prosecutors Barbara Benzi and Alfonso Serritiello, are pursuing the gang that allegedly carried out the scam through international letters rogatory. For now, only that name is listed in the documents, likely referring to the money movements.
