Italian police announced that scammers targeting prominent businessmen by mimicking the voice of Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto with artificial intelligence have stolen 1 million euros.

The Milan prosecutor’s office confirmed a series of fraud attempts last week involving important businessmen, including Giorgio Armani, Prada’s co-founder Patrizio Bertelli, and former owner of Inter Milan Football Club, Massimo Moratti. Scammers pretending to be Defense Ministry officials contacted businessmen by phone using artificial intelligence to change their voices. Claiming to need urgent financial assistance to rescue Italian journalists kidnapped in the Middle East, the thieves then handed the phone to Defense Minister Crosetto, imitating his voice with artificial intelligence to ask for money. Only Moratti sent the money

According to Reuters, only Massimo Moratti complied with the scammers’ demands and sent 1 million euros. After transferring the money through several different banks, the thieves then moved it to an account in the Netherlands. They also changed the phone number. Moratti, who initiated legal action after realizing he had been deceived, provided details of the incident to La Repubblica newspaper. Describing an impressive trap, Moratti said, “The calls seemed to come from government offices in Rome. Everything seemed real, it was convincing. It was a situation that anyone could fall into.” They guaranteed repayment

The scammers attempting to deceive businessmen assured them that the money they sent would be refunded by the Bank of Italy. The stolen money was found

Italian authorities announced that the 1 million euros had been traced to a bank account in the Netherlands and frozen as a result of joint efforts by the police and prosecutor’s office. However, recovering the lost money was noted to be challenging. ‘A perfect operation’

Italy’s Defense Minister Crosetto, in a statement from his official X account, expressed his satisfaction with the tracking and complete freezing of money obtained fraudulently from an entrepreneur by using my name and fake voice. He referred to this as a “perfect operation” shown by our judges and police forces. Crosetto confirmed the use of artificial intelligence to convincingly simulate his voice.