Intesa Sanpaolo’s Fideuram loses €95M in AI messaging scam

A group of fraudsters used AI-generated voice cloning and fake WhatsApp messages to steal €95 million from Fideuram, the private banking arm of Italy’s largest lender, Intesa Sanpaolo. It’s one of the most expensive CEO impersonation scams ever disclosed by a major European financial institution.

Of the stolen funds, roughly €53 million to €59 million has been clawed back through international cooperation. The remaining €36 million was converted into crypto assets, making recovery significantly harder.

How the scam worked

The scheme kicked off in February 2026 when former Fideuram chairman Paolo Molesini received a WhatsApp message that appeared to come from Intesa Sanpaolo CEO Carlo Messina. The message was urgent, as these things always are, requesting overseas transfers tied to what was framed as a time-sensitive financial opportunity.

To seal the deal, the fraudsters arranged a follow-up phone call. On the other end of the line was what sounded like Paolo Nastasi, a lawyer known to the parties involved. It wasn’t Nastasi. It was an AI-cloned version of his voice, convincing enough to push the transfers through.

Fake emails backed up the requests, creating a layered illusion of legitimacy. The funds were wired primarily to accounts in China and Hong Kong.

The recovery effort and what’s still missing

Fideuram flagged the transfers as irregular relatively quickly and contacted international banking counterparts. That speed mattered. Around €40 million was returned through cooperation with Chinese banks. Another €13 million was seized with help from Portuguese authorities working through Eurojust, the EU’s judicial cooperation agency.

That still leaves approximately €36 million unaccounted for. According to reports, those funds were converted into cryptocurrencies. Blockchain transactions are traceable in theory, but once funds are layered through mixers, bridges, or decentralized exchanges, the practical difficulty of recovery increases dramatically.

Molesini stepped down as Fideuram’s chairman on March 16, 2026. He is not under investigation by Italian prosecutors, who continue pursuing leads through international legal channels. The incident itself was publicly disclosed on September 25, 2026, roughly seven months after the transfers occurred.

AI fraud is scaling fast

This wasn’t an isolated attempt. Intesa Sanpaolo has reported blocking thousands of AI-generated scam attempts targeting its CEO since the beginning of 2026.