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They called business leaders in a minister’s cloned voice.

In February 2025, fraudsters used AI to imitate the voice of Italy's Defence Minister Guido Crosetto and called some of the country's best-known business leaders. The pretext was freeing Italian journalists kidnapped in the Middle East; one person sent almost €1 million.

01The case
Date
February 2025
Where
Italy
Target
Prominent business leaders
Method
Phone calls in the AI-imitated voice of the Defence Minister
Amount
Almost €1 million; frozen in an account in the Netherlands

The calls came in the voice of Defence Minister Guido Crosetto. The callers said urgent funds were needed to free Italian journalists kidnapped in the Middle East.

According to Milan prosecutors, those approached included fashion designer Giorgio Armani and Prada co-founder Patrizio Bertelli. The only person believed to have sent money was former Inter Milan owner Massimo Moratti, who made two transfers totalling almost €1 million, believing the Bank of Italy would reimburse him.

Police traced the money to a bank account in the Netherlands and froze it. "It all seemed real. They were good. It could happen to anyone," Moratti told La Repubblica.

02What we learn

A well-known voice asked for urgent help.

  • The attackers chose a voice everyone knows, with plenty of public recordings. People who are heard often are the easiest to clone.
  • The pretext was both emotional and urgent, and the promise of reimbursement put the payment beyond question.
  • In this case the money was found and frozen. As the Fideuram case shows, that is not always possible.

SynVoi analyses whether the voice on the line is cloned while the conversation is still going. Whoever the caller claims to be, the decision rests on the voice itself.

03Sources

This post is compiled from the public news reports below; figures and dates are as reported in the sources. The image is illustrative.

  1. Reuters (Cyprus Mail)Italian police freeze cash from AI-voice scam that targeted business leaders
  2. Reuters (Yahoo News)Italian police freeze cash from AI-voice scam that targeted business leaders
04More news

All news

05Contact

Catch the cloned voice before the call ends.

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