Bank Intesa San Paolo has experienced an embarrassing security failure, as a fraudster managed to steal 95 million euros through a fake call with artificial intelligence.
Fraudsters used artificial intelligence to impersonate senior executives and tricked Fideuram — the private banking arm of Intesa Sanpaolo — into transferring money to Asia, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
How the scam worked
It all started in February with a message that seemed to come from the highest levels of management. Here is a summary of the scheme:
The message: Paolo Molesini, then chairman of Fideuram, received a message on WhatsApp that appeared to be from Intesa Sanpaolo chief executive Carlo Messina, asking for urgent help with an overseas transaction.
The phone call: A short time later, a person claiming to be a senior partner at a well-known law firm confirmed the request over the phone. The fraudsters had recreated his voice using artificial intelligence.
Transfers: Believing the requests were legitimate, Molesini instructed the finance department to send the money, mostly to accounts in China and Hong Kong.
Molesini resigned in March, citing personal reasons at the time. Neither he nor other leaders of Fideuram are under investigation. Instead, Milan prosecutors are investigating a foreign national living outside Europe for computer fraud.
53 million euros were recovered; the rest ended up in cryptocurrencies
Fideuram quickly identified the irregularities and notified the authorities in several countries. Cooperation between investigators in China, Portugal and Italy made it possible to recover about 53 million euros. However, around 36 million euros are still missing, having been transferred through accounts abroad and converted into cryptocurrencies, reports AML Intelligence.
The remaining funds could not be traced as they passed through a network of accounts abroad and were converted into cryptocurrencies.
Neither Molesini nor any other Fideuram executives are under investigation, the sources said. However, prosecutors in Milan have investigated a foreign national living outside Europe on suspicion of computer fraud, one of the sources said.
