Italian police have discovered and frozen nearly one million euros ($1.04 million) transferred to a foreign bank account by a prominent businessman who fell prey to an artificial intelligence scam, officials announced on Wednesday.
The scammers employed AI to mimic the voice of Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, placing calls that purported to solicit urgent financial aid for the release of kidnapped Italian journalists in the Middle East. According to prosecutors in Milan, notable figures in Italy's business realm, such as fashion designer Giorgio Armani and Prada co-founder Patrizio Bertelli, were targeted. However, it was believed that only Massimo Moratti, the former owner of Inter Milan soccer club, complied with the fraudulent request by sending the funds.
Although authorities initially thought it would be challenging to recover the funds, they disclosed on Wednesday that the money had been located in the Netherlands.
Expressing his satisfaction, Crosetto commended the efforts, stating, "I'm very pleased that the money fraudulently taken from an entrepreneur, using my falsified voice and name, has been traced to a Dutch account and completely frozen." Moratti, who mistakenly transferred two payments amounting to almost one million euros, had hoped to be reimbursed by the Bank of Italy, as per sources familiar with the case.
Following the realization that he had been swindled, Moratti lodged a legal complaint last week. Reflecting on the situation, he told Italian daily La Repubblica, "It all seemed real. They were good. It could happen to anyone."
In the elaborate scheme, scammers posed as officials from the defense ministry, with calls appearing to originate from government offices in Rome. The fraudsters then handed the phone to an individual claiming to be Crosetto, who requested funds under the guise that the government could not publicly support the transactions.
The defense minister confirmed that AI technology was used to convincingly replicate his voice. ($1 = 0.9615 euros)