Associated Incidents
The scammers used AI technology to mimic the voice of Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, making phone calls requesting urgent financial support for the release of Italian journalists kidnapped in the Middle East.
The targeted victims include some of Italy’s most prominent businessmen, including fashion designer Giorgio Armani and Prada co-founder Patrizio Bertelli, according to Milan prosecutors. However, only Massimo Moratti, the former owner of Inter Milan football club, is said to have transferred the funds requested by the scammers.
Authorities initially estimated that it would be difficult to recover the lost money, but on Wednesday they announced that the funds had been located in the Netherlands and frozen.
"I am very pleased that the money fraudulently taken from a businessman, using my forged voice and name, has been traced to a Dutch account and completely frozen. An excellent effort by the magistrates and law enforcement," Crosetto wrote on the X platform.
Massimo Moratti, the businessman who made two payments totaling almost one million euros, mistakenly believing that they would be reimbursed by the Bank of Italy, did not comment on the situation. However, sources close to the case confirmed the transfers.
Moratti filed a complaint last week after realizing he had been scammed. "Everything seemed real. They were very convincing. It could happen to anyone," he told the Italian daily La Repubblica over the weekend.
The scam involved criminals posing as officials from the Italian Defense Ministry, making calls that appeared to come from government offices in Rome. They then passed the phone to a man claiming to be Crosetto, who demanded money, arguing that the government could not be seen as directly involved in these transactions.
The Minister of Defense confirmed that the fraudsters used AI technology to convincingly simulate his voice, which contributed to the success of the scam.