Fraudsters used AI voice cloning technology to impersonate Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, targeting prominent Italian business leaders and successfully defrauding at least one victim of approximately 1 million euros.
In February 2025, a sophisticated fraud operation targeted some of Italy's most prominent business leaders using AI voice cloning technology to impersonate Defense Minister Guido Crosetto. The scammers contacted wealthy entrepreneurs including Giorgio Armani, Patrizio Bertelli (Prada co-founder), Marco Tronchetti Provera (Pirelli), and members of the Beretta and Del Vecchio families. The fraudsters claimed to need urgent financial assistance for ransoming Italian journalists allegedly kidnapped in the Middle East, promising reimbursement through the Bank of Italy. They used sophisticated techniques including caller ID spoofing to make calls appear to originate from government offices in Rome. At least one victim, Massimo Moratti (former Inter Milan owner), fell for the scam and transferred approximately 1 million euros in two payments to accounts in the Netherlands, which were later traced to Hong Kong. The Milan prosecutor's office opened an investigation for aggravated fraud and identity theft, with at least seven formal complaints filed. Italian police successfully located and froze the stolen funds in a Dutch account. The incident highlighted the growing sophistication of AI-powered fraud schemes targeting high-net-worth individuals.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed