Associated Incidents
Italian Minister Guido Crosetto has joked that fake copies of all masterpieces exist, after alerting the public to the scheme
Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has declared his voice a “masterpiece,” after discovering that scammers used AI to impersonate him last week in a reported attempt to solicit funds from the country’s richest businessmen.
Crosetto first alerted the public to the ongoing scam on Thursday in a post on X, warning that several prominent figures had been approached.
The scammers were reportedly aiming to capitalise on a recent high-profile prisoner swap with Iran, during which Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was freed. The AI-generated “Crosetto” claimed that urgent funds were needed to pay the ransom for other reporters allegedly held in the Middle East, framing it as a matter of national security.
Notable targets of the scheme included some of Italy’s richest people, such as fashion icon Giorgio Armani, Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli, the Aleotti family — the owners of giant pharmaceutical group Menarini — and the Beretta family, known for manufacturing firearms, according to Italian media.
While most attempts by the fake “minister” were unsuccessful, billionaire Massimo Moratti, former owner of Inter Milan Football Club, revealed to La Repubblica that he had wired an undisclosed sum after being contacted.
Crosetto shared some jokes that tipped him off to the situation, pointing to a suggestion from a friend that he could take solace in the fact that “fake copies of all masterpieces are circulating.”
Italian police have yet to identify the suspects. Crosetto said one of the imposters introduced himself as “Giovanni Montalbano,” a name that resembles the title of a popular Italian police procedural series, The Young Montalbano.
Advances in technology, including generative algorithms capable of real-time voice cloning and cryptocurrencies, have made scams easier and safer for criminals. The NGO Anti-SCAM Alliance (GASA) estimated that losses from online and telephone schemes exceed $1 trillion annually, with the majority of funds remaining unreconfirmed.