According to the "Evening Post," Fideuram lost at least 36 million euros in a fraud that occurred in February 2026. The case led to overseas transfers totaling about 95 million euros, and investigators are currently tracing the flow of some of the missing funds to Bitcoin wallets.
Reports show that Fideuram transferred approximately 95 million euros as scammers impersonated executives through cloned voices using WhatsApp and AI.
Investigators have recovered approximately 55 million euros, while court documents indicate that the remaining loss amounts to 39.5 million euros.
At least 4 million euros passed through multiple accounts before entering a Canadian platform and a Bitcoin wallet.
An 48-year-old Israeli citizen is under investigation, but authorities are still verifying his identity.
It is reported that Paolo Mollesini (Paolo Molesini) resigned in March for personal reasons and is not currently under investigation.
The "Evening Post" reported that at the time, Chairman Paolo Mollesini received a message that appeared to be from Carlo Messina, the CEO of UniStato San Paolo Bank of Italy ( Intesa Sanpaolo ). Subsequently, he received a phone call from someone who used what the newspaper described as a voice generated in the style of a lawyer ( AI ). UniStato San Paolo is the private banking division of UniStato San Paolo Bank of Italy, the largest banking group in Italy.
More recent court details indicate that the amount still not recovered is 39.5 million euros, while previous reports mentioned that at least 36 million euros were converted into cryptocurrencies. The discrepancy arises from figures disclosed at different stages of the investigation and recovery process.
Fideuram AI How does fraud operate?
The scam began on February 23rd when Mollesini received a message from someone claiming to be from Messina with the identifier WhatsApp. A summary of court documents, as quoted by ANSA, indicates that this number was not one that Mollesini recognized, yet the sender packaged the request as a confidential acquisition involving international banks.
ANSA reports that Messina allegedly told Moracchini that a direct acquisition of the Italian bank UniStato San Paolo would not be feasible, as once the information was leaked, Italy's securities regulatory agency Consob might halt the transaction. Fideuram is described as the entity required to complete this deal.
Subsequently, another contact person impersonated Paul Natali ( Paolo Nastasi ), who is a managing partner of A& O Shearman Italia and also a lawyer known to Mollesini. Natali was not involved in the scam. According to reports based on the investigation, the voice of the caller was replicated using artificial intelligence.
E-mails intended to mimic communications between law firms provided payment instructions and information about overseas accounts. Mollesini also received documents, including a non-disclosure agreement and a special authorization letter that appeared to be signed by Messina.
Scammers did not rely on a single communication channel. Investigators stated that the fund and payment manager of Fideuram received another call from someone who pretended to be a senior executive of Fideuram and informed Mollesini that an emergency confidential payment would be authorized.
Ultimately, between February 23 and February 25, a total of 11 transfers amounting to nearly 95 million euros were sent overseas, with a significant portion of the funds flowing to accounts in China and Portugal.
Fideuram Where did the missing funds go?
Fideuram quickly discovered this fraud, and as a result, was able to prevent or recover most of the original amount transferred.
ANSA reports that approximately 42 million euros intended for China were intercepted and returned, while Italian investigators recovered over 13 million euros from a Portuguese bank. A judge in Milan approved the seizure with the cooperation of Portuguese authorities.
The previous statement from The Evening Post was that the amount recovered and sent back to China was close to 40 million euros. According to a report by Reuters, approximately 53 million euros have been recovered in total, while around 36 million euros are still unaccounted for at the time of publication.
Subsequent court documents cited by Italian media set the amount remaining unresolved at 39.5 million euros. At least part of the funds had already been transferred through overseas accounts and entered channels related to cryptocurrencies before the banks were able to freeze them.
Investigators subsequently reconstructed a money trail involving approximately 4 million euros. According to the Evening Post, the funds passed through accounts in Malta, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, and then via a remittance platform in Canada, before ultimately reaching two Bitcoin wallets.
Reports link these wallets to a person who is under investigation, but it has not yet been confirmed by the court who ultimately controls these funds, nor has it been determined whether the individuals named were involved in the initial impersonation scam.
Who is under investigation for fraud related to Fideuram?
The Milan prosecution is investigating a 48-year-old Israeli citizen, suspecting him to be one of the members of the criminal gang involved in the case.
According to the "Evening Post," this individual is associated with an overseas account through which approximately 4 million euros flowed, and these funds subsequently entered two Bitcoin wallets. Investigators have not yet made his name public.
Italian authorities are still attempting to confirm whether the identification documents associated with this suspect correspond to a real identity, or whether they are used to conceal another identity of the individuals behind the transactions. International judicial assistance requests are being made to obtain information from banks, payment platforms, and cryptocurrencies from other jurisdictions.
Molaisini himself was not investigated. According to a report by The Evening Post, Fideuram did not file any legal proceedings against him regarding this matter.
Fideuram announced his resignation on March 12th. ANSA reported that he stepped down from the positions of chairman of Fideuram and Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking for "personal reasons", with Tommaso Corcos taking over as the new chairman.
This resignation occurred a few weeks after the February transfer incident, however, the company's announcement in March did not explicitly link his departure to this fraud.
AI Voice fraud is targeting executives and cryptocurrency users
The Milan prosecution is also investigating other fraud cases that are alleged to have involved a combination of fake emails, impersonation, and voice cloning.
ANSA reports that in another case, a bank manager was tricked into approving a transfer of nearly 24 million euros in May. Approximately 20 million euros of this amount were later recovered, and the funds were traced to Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bahrain. The investigations into these cases are independent of each other.
Another case involving a smaller institution amounted to about 2 million euros, and part of that amount has already been recovered by investigators in Croatia. The Italian prosecution stated that similar social engineering techniques were used in these cases, but it has not yet been publicly confirmed whether they were carried out by the same gang.
AI also repeatedly appears in crypto-related scams. Relevant reports show that Ripple users have encountered deeply forged videos and AI generated voices impersonating company executives, with scammers attempting to trick victims into sending digital assets.
Zhao Changpeng, the founder of Binance, has also separately warned against AI from impersonating others by using fake images and pretending to be a senior executive.
For various compliance reasons, Italy has strengthened the monitoring of encrypted transactions. The Italian Central Bank has recently required crypto service providers to conduct sanctions screenings without any minimum transaction amount threshold, and the relevant regulations mandate that each encrypted transaction be checked.
In the case of Fideuram, investigators are still continuing to send international assistance requests to banks, payment companies, and authorities in the countries through which the funds passed. The investigation in Milan is still working to determine who controls these overseas accounts, as well as whether the identities associated with the two Bitcoin wallets belong to the person mentioned in the investigation.
