AI voice clone of Italian defense minister used in ransom scam
Scammers used AI-generated voice cloning technology to impersonate Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto in calls to wealthy business executives, falsely claiming an Italian journalist had been kidnapped and requesting ransom payments. At least one executive transferred 1 million euros before the fraud was discovered.
What happened
Scammers used AI to generate a voice clone of Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto and placed calls to multiple Italian business executives, including Marco Tronchetti Provera (Pirelli), Giorgio Armani, Patrizio Bertelli (Prada), Diego Della Valle (Tod's), Massimo Moratti (Inter Milan), members of the Beretta family (Pietro Beretta), and the Menarini family.
The scammers claimed to represent government staff and told the executives that an Italian journalist had been kidnapped in the Middle East and that they needed to transfer funds urgently to overseas accounts as ransom. The caller stated the money would be reimbursed by the Bank of Italy.
Reported impact
At least one victim transferred 1 million euros (approximately 3.385 million New Taiwan dollars) to an overseas bank account. Three Milan business executives filed complaints with the Milan prosecutors, including the victim themselves.
Index analysis
The scam targeted wealthy Italian business leaders through phone calls using the cloned voice and spoofed phone numbers that appeared to originate from the Defense Ministry. Many of the targets recognized the fraud and did not comply, but the social engineering approach with urgent claims about a kidnapped journalist proved effective on at least one victim.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.