Didn’t hack the system, didn’t steal private keys—just made a phone call, and €95 million walked out of an Italian private bank on its own. Paolo Molesini, the former chairman of the Italian private bank Fideuram, received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number on February 23 this year. The sender claimed to be Carlo Messina, the CEO of the parent group Intesa Sanpaolo. The message said the group was secretly acquiring an international bank and didn’t want the news to leak and trigger regulatory intervention, so they needed to route the funds through Fideuram. They told him to wait for a lawyer’s call. The call came, featuring an AI-cloned lawyer’s voice. Molesini didn’t ask any questions and made 11 transfers, totaling €95 million. Why did he believe it? Just a few months earlier, the group’s acquisition of Generali had fallen through due to a leak. The scammers hit the nail on the head with this setup. Later, a Chinese bank intercepted €40 million, and €13 million was frozen in Portugal. But Milan judge Sonia Mancini’s ruling made it clear: €39.5 million is gone for good. Over €36 million of that was converted into Bitcoin and sent to two wallets. A bank chairman got scammed out of €95 million by a piece of synthetic audio. The scammers’ €36 million is now sitting on the blockchain, untouchable by anyone.