ISTANBUL

Scammers used AI-generated voice of Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto in an atempts to steal millions of dollars from Italian business tycoons, according to reports.

Crosetto said last Thursday on X that someone was using his name and his artificially generated voice to contact around a dozen of well-known businessmen, including Giorgio Armani, Patrizio Bertelli and the former owner of Inter Milan football club Massimo Moratti.

Businessmen were asked to contribute to a ransom fee to free some Italian journalists held hostage in the Middle East, taking advantage of the case of Italian reporter Cecilia Sala who was detained in Iran on Dec. 19 and later released and repatriated on Jan. 8.

Scammers were only able to receive payment from Massimo Moratti, who transferred €1 million ($1.03 million) in total to an account based in Hong Kong.

The defense minister confirmed that he would file a complaint with prosecutors.

Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation to identify scammers and victims while also tracing Moratti’s money.