Italian Entrepreneurs, Fashion Businesspeople Targeted in Scam Scheme

MILAN – A pool of high-profile Italian entrepreneurs — including several fashion players, such as Giorgio Armani, Prada Group’s chairman and executive director Patrizio Bertelli and Tod’s Group chairman Diego Della Valle, among others — have been targeted by a gang of scammers, according to media reports.

People close to the entrepreneurs have been allegedly contacted this week by fraudsters pretending to be representatives of the Ministry of Defense, requesting to be urgently put in touch with the businesspeople and asking for huge sums of money to help the government pay ransoms for Italian journalists caught in captivity in different areas of the world.

According to media reports, only one unidentified entrepreneur, not operating in fashion, has fallen victim to the scheme, reportedly wiring about 1 million euros to a Hong Kong-based bank account.

The criminal ring has allegedly also used AI software in some instances to reproduce the voice of Italy’s Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto and is said to have reassured the entrepreneurs that the Bank of Italy would repay the loan in due time.

As of Sunday, three targeted businesspeople had registered a complaint with law enforcement for the fraud attempt. Milan prosecutors Marcello Viola and Giovanni Tarzia have begun an investigation and Crosetto publicly addressed the case, posting about the scam scheme on X.

In addition to the fashion businesspeople, the scheme targeted the Del Vecchio family, behind the eyewear giant Essilorluxottica; Massimo Moratti, chairman of Saras SpA, an Italian energy company with operations in petroleum refining, marketing, transportation and power generation, as well as the former president of Milan-based soccer team Inter; Marco Tronchetti Provera, executive vice president and chief executive officer of the Pirelli Group; the Aleotti family, behind big pharma company Menarini; the Beretta family, who controls the namesake Italian firearms manufacturing company, and the Caltagirone family, who operates in real estate development and media, as well as top management at supermarket chain Esselunga.