# A message from the CEO. A call from the lawyer. Neither was real.

ID: SA-038
Type: Documented incident
Audience / at-risk group: Executives, treasury and finance teams, and anyone who can authorise a payment on someone else's instruction
Subject: Fideuram (Intesa Sanpaolo group) transfer fraud, February 2026
Sources checked: 2026-09-29

## Lesson
Seniority and a familiar voice are not authorisation. An urgent, confidential transfer request must be confirmed by calling the person back on a number you already hold, and pass the normal dual-approval process, however senior the requester and however convincing the second voice that 'confirms' it.

## Source findings
Reuters reported on 25 September 2026, citing sources, that the fraud began in February 2026, when the then-chairman of Fideuram received a WhatsApp message that appeared to come from Intesa Sanpaolo's CEO asking for urgent help with an overseas transaction, followed by a call from someone posing as a senior partner at a prominent law firm, whose voice was replicated with AI. He instructed the finance department to make a series of transfers, mainly to China and Hong Kong, totalling about €95 million. About €53 million was recovered through cooperation between authorities in China, Portugal and Italy; about €36 million has not been traced after passing through overseas accounts and being converted into cryptocurrency. Milan prosecutors have placed a foreign national living outside Europe under investigation for computer fraud; no Fideuram executive is under investigation. The chairman resigned in March 2026 citing personal reasons. Intesa Sanpaolo and Fideuram declined to comment. Il Sole 24 Ore separately reports the same amounts (€40 million recovered from a Chinese bank and €13 million from a Portuguese one) and the use of AI to replicate the lawyer's voice.

## Limits
This case rests on press reports based on unnamed sources; Intesa Sanpaolo and Fideuram declined to comment, and no court has ruled. The AI voice cloning is as described by the reporting, not verified here, and neither source publishes the messages or the recording. It is not established how the voice sample was obtained or whether other institutions were targeted. Nothing here suggests that the executives impersonated were involved; they were the identities the fraudsters borrowed.

## Sources
- [Reuters (as republished by Global Banking & Finance Review)](https://www.globalbankingandfinance.com/ai-messaging-scam-costs-italys-top-bank-intesa-millions/) — Original report, citing sources, on the scam, the amounts and the investigation · 25 September 2026
- [Il Sole 24 Ore](https://en.ilsole24ore.com/art/the-former-boss-of-fideuram-was-scammed-via-whatsapp-and-36-million-have-gone-missing-AJXuauOB) — Separate report on the recovered amounts and the cloned voice · September 2026

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