95 million scam at Fideuram: former chairman duped by WhatsApp messages and a synthetic voice
A sophisticated scam exploited a banker’s digital identity and a lawyer’s fake voice to steal millions: 59 million has been recovered thanks to international cooperation.
The former chairman of Fideuram, Paolo Molesini, was the victim of a €36 million scam, triggered by a fake WhatsApp message purportedly sent by Intesa banker Carlo Messina.
This was reported today by *Corriere della Sera*, which explained that the affair could have had far worse consequences, as a large proportion of the approximately 95 million that had left the institution’s coffers has been recovered abroad (either independently or in collaboration with the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office).
The international fraud dates back to February 2026, when Molesini, then chairman of Fideuram (a subsidiary of Intesa), received – or rather, believed he had received, as he would realise shortly afterwards – a WhatsApp message from Carlo Messina, director of the parent company Banca Intesa.
In the communication, the person purporting to be Messina points out to him the urgency of carrying out, via Fideuram’s treasury department (due to certain practical reasons that would prevent Intesa from handling this on its own), a series of bank transfers designed to ensure that Intesa does not miss out on a financial transaction abroad that is of interest to the bank.
Next, the criminal gang fakes another plausible communication to the chairman of Fideuram: this time, the person phoning him (or, rather, pretending to phone him) is a lawyer from a major international law firm, Paolo Nastasi, managing partner of A&O Shearman Italia, who is entirely uninvolved and unaware of the scam and is used as an intermediary in the deal promoted by the fake Messina.
