Associated Incidents
Some of Italy’s most prominent business leaders, including fashion designer Giorgio Armani and Prada chairman Patrizio Bertelli, have been targeted by an artificial intelligence-based scam that involved impersonating the defense minister in phone calls asking for help in freeing Italian journalists kidnapped in the Middle East, reports The Guardian.
Prosecutors in Milan have received four legal complaints, including from Massimo Moratti, the former owner of Inter Milan, and a member of the Beretta family, the world’s oldest firearms manufacturer. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto announced on Monday that he would also file a complaint after his voice was cloned and used in at least one of the phone calls.
Prosecutors have so far confirmed that one of the targeted businessmen fell for the scammers and made two transfers totaling 1 million euros to an account in Hong Kong, falsely believing that the amount would be reimbursed by the Bank of Italy.
Crosetto revealed the scam in a social media post after receiving a call last week from a well-known entrepreneur who had transferred a large sum of money to a bank account, convinced that he had spoken to him.
The Italian defense minister was later contacted by two other people about the scam. Crosetto said he chose to make the case public "so that no one risks falling into the trap."
Other people were targeted by phone calls claiming to be from Crosetto's subordinates and appearing to be from the defense ministry in Rome.
The scammers targeted some of Italy's best-known businessmen
By Monday, complaints filed included one from a member of the Aleotti family, which runs the pharmaceutical company Menarini, and one from a member of the family that owns the Esselunga supermarket chain. Giorgio Armani is also expected to file a complaint after his employees were contacted by the scammers, according to Italian media.
The first person to file a complaint was Moratti, the former president of football club and multinational energy group Saras. "Everything seemed real, they were very good, it could happen to him "to anyone," he told La Repubblica.
Lucia Aleotti, a member of Menarini's board of directors, said the company was saved by a shrewd personal assistant named Chiara. "We get suspicious calls all the time," she told Corriere della Sera. "Once they tried to sell us a Caravaggio and even a Leonardo. This was certainly not the most difficult scam to spot for our assistant, who is vigilant and attentive," she praised her employee.
Other people targeted in this sophisticated scam include Tod's owner Diego Della Valle, as well as Pirelli's executive vice president Marco Tronchetti Provera.
"They are professional fraudsters who have both the technology and the ability to identify targets," Crosetto said on a TV show. "In this case, they targeted big Italian entrepreneurs, people who, at the request of a minister, might have been willing to make a bank transfer out of love for Italy," he added.