Intesa Sanpaolo loses $100 million to AI impersonation scam

Italy's largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, lost approximately $108 million after fraudsters used AI to impersonate top executives at its Fideuram unit, according to Reuters. Over half of the stolen funds have been recovered. The scheme began with a fake message appearing to be from CEO Carlo Messina requesting an urgent foreign transaction, followed by an AI-generated voice call from a known lawyer. Fideuram management approved transfers to accounts in China and Hong Kong before suspicious activity was detected. An international investigation recovered about $60 million, but remaining funds were routed through multiple accounts and partially converted to cryptocurrency, complicating recovery. The bank has not publicly commented on the case.