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NOPE
Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

Rome Carabinieri say phone fraud suspects used AI software to clone relatives' voices in calls that took money from mostly older residents

The Carabinieri of the Compagnia Roma Centro announced on 3 June 2026 that they had reported 44 people to the judicial authorities as the alleged perpetrators of 39 completed or attempted phone frauds committed between November 2025 and May 2026. According to the Carabinieri account relayed by RomaToday, Fanpage, RaiNews and Il Messaggero, the fraudsters posed as bank staff or police, faked the caller number shown on the victim's phone (spoofing) and used artificial-intelligence software to clone the voices of the victims' relatives, then invented threats to savings or road accidents involving children or grandchildren so that victims made urgent bank transfers or topped up payment cards held by accomplices. The victims were mostly older residents of Rome. The Carabinieri recovered money, gold and jewellery estimated at over 900,000 euros. The outlets do not describe an individual victim, do not say how many of the 39 cases involved a cloned voice, and do not say how the investigators established that the voices were AI-generated.

AI system
Unidentified voice-cloning tool
Occurred
Nov 2025 to May 2026
Reported
3 June 2026
Event location
Italy
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Financial Loss
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Finance · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account
7 claims: 7 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: Artificial-intelligence software that the Carabinieri say the fraudsters used to clone the voices of victims' relatives in phone calls; no tool is named

What Happened

The Carabinieri account. On 3 June 2026 the Carabinieri of the Compagnia Roma Centro announced the results of an operation against digital fraud. They had reported 44 people to the judicial authorities as the presumed perpetrators of 39 frauds, completed or attempted, committed between November 2025 and May 2026. The investigation started from victims' complaints and used bank checks on cards and accounts, phone records, video-surveillance images, databases and social media profiles.

How the frauds worked, according to the investigators. The outlets relay the modus operandi that the Carabinieri reconstructed. The fraudsters sent text messages or called victims while posing as bank staff or members of the police, used spoofing so that the real number of a bank or a Carabinieri or police office appeared on the victim's phone, and used artificial-intelligence software to clone the voices of the victims' relatives. They invented dangers to the victims' savings or road accidents involving children or grandchildren, and induced the victims to make urgent bank transfers or top up payment cards held by accomplices. Fanpage writes that the AI programs let the suspects disguise their own voices by cloning those of the victims' relatives.

Victims and losses. RomaToday describes the victims as almost all Roman residents, mostly older people. Il Messaggero writes that they were not only older people. The Carabinieri recovered cash, gold and jewellery estimated at over 900,000 euros; Fanpage adds that the total taken was higher once victims' bank transfers are counted. The reports give no individual account of a victim deceived by a cloned voice and do not say how many of the 39 cases involved one.

What is not established. No tool is named, no recording or forensic analysis is described, and no court has ruled. Il Messaggero says the cases involved different groups, all of whose members came from Campania, while Fanpage describes a single network.

Reported harm

According to the Carabinieri, victims, mostly older Rome residents, were induced to make urgent transfers or top up payment cards in 39 completed or attempted frauds that used spoofed numbers and, the investigators say, AI-cloned voices of relatives; property worth over 900,000 euros was recovered.

Outcome

Ongoing

The Carabinieri of the Compagnia Roma Centro reported 44 people to the judicial authorities (denunciati) as the presumed perpetrators of 39 completed or attempted frauds, and recovered cash, gold and jewellery estimated at over 900,000 euros (announced 3 June 2026). Il Messaggero reports that all 44 suspects come from Campania and that the cases involved different groups. No report of a charge, trial or court decision was found in news searches on 2 November 2026.

What remains unknown

  • How many of the 39 completed or attempted frauds used a cloned voice, and how many people lost money
  • How the investigators established that the voices were AI-generated, and which software was used
  • Whether prosecutors brought charges and whether any case has reached court
  • Whether the 44 suspects formed one network or several groups (Fanpage and Il Messaggero differ)

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The Carabinieri of the Compagnia Roma Centro, who investigated the 39 frauds using victims' complaints, bank checks and phone records, reconstructed a modus operandi in which the fraudsters used artificial-intelligence software to clone the voices of the victims' relatives (s1, s3, s4; Fanpage s2 adds that the programs let the suspects disguise their own voices as those relatives). The cloned voices impersonated relatives toward the people called and were part of what induced them to make urgent transfers or top up payment cards (s1, s3). This is an attribution by the investigating Carabinieri, relayed by four outlets from one statement; no tool, recording or forensic analysis is disclosed, and the number of cases in which a cloned voice was used is not stated.

7 claims: 7 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The Carabinieri of the Compagnia Roma Centro reported 44 people to the judicial authorities as the presumed perpetrators of 39 completed or attempted frauds committed between November 2025 and May 2026.

Causal attribution. Several outlets relaying one Carabinieri statement; one origin, so reported.

  • fanpage.it(opens in new tab) supports · Italian
    44 persone, presunte responsabili di 39 episodi di truffe riuscite o tentate tra il novembre 2025 e maggio 2026.
  • rainews.it(opens in new tab) supports · Italian
    I Carabinieri della compagnia di Roma centro hanno individuato i presunti responsabili di ben 39 episodi di questo tipo, denunciando 44 persone.
Reported According to the modus operandi reconstructed by the Carabinieri, the fraudsters used artificial-intelligence software to clone the voices of the victims' relatives, alongside spoofed caller numbers and calls posing as bank staff or police.

Causal attribution. The investigating Carabinieri's attribution, relayed by four outlets from one statement; no tool, recording or technical basis is disclosed.

  • ilmessaggero.it(opens in new tab) supports · Italian
    L’attività investigativa dei Carabinieri della Compagnia Roma Centro ha permesso inoltre di ricostruire il modus operandi degli indagati: dal falso contatto, con i truffatori che inviavano sms o telefonavano alle vittime spacciandosi per operatori bancari o appartenenti alle forze dell’ordine, all’uso della tecnologia, con l’utilizzo per l’appunto dello “spoofing” telefonico per camuffare il numero del chiamante e di software di intelligenza artificiale per clonare la voce di parenti
  • rainews.it(opens in new tab) supports · Italian
    oppure utilizzavano software di intelligenza artificiale non solo per camuffare il numero del chiamante ma anche per clonare la voce di parenti.
  • romatoday.it(opens in new tab) supports · Italian
    Oppure camuffavano il numero di chi chiamava o veniva utilizzato il software di intelligenza artificiale per clonare la voce di parenti.
Reported The fraudsters invented dangers to the victims' savings or road accidents involving children or grandchildren and induced victims to make urgent bank transfers or top up payment cards held by accomplices.

Causal attribution. The Carabinieri's description of the scheme as relayed; no individual victim's account is reported.

  • rainews.it(opens in new tab) supports · Italian
    Costante il ricorso alla pressione psicologica, alimentando inesistenti pericoli per i risparmi o fingendo incidenti stradali occorsi a figli o nipoti. L'obiettivo era sempre lo stesso: indurre le vittime a eseguire bonifici urgenti o ricariche su carte di pagamento intestate ai complici.
  • romatoday.it(opens in new tab) supports · Italian
    I malcapitati, così, venivano indotti a eseguire bonifici urgenti o ricariche su carte di pagamento intestate ai complici.
Reported RomaToday describes the victims as almost all Roman residents, mostly older people; Il Messaggero writes that the victims were not only older people.

Causal attribution. Two outlets' characterisations of the same victim group; they differ in emphasis.

Reported The Carabinieri recovered cash, gold and jewellery estimated at over 900,000 euros; Fanpage writes that the total taken was higher once victims' bank transfers are counted.

Causal attribution. Carabinieri figure as relayed; an estimate of recovered property, not a count of losses.

  • fanpage.it(opens in new tab) supports · Italian
    Oltre ai denunciati, i carabinieri sono riusciti a recuperare parte della refurtiva sottratta, composta da denaro in contanti, oro e gioielli per un valore che si stima superiore a 900 mila euro. Il totale del bottino messo insieme dal gruppo nel corso dei messi sarebbe più alto, contando anche i bonifici eseguiti dalle povere vittime, convinte di aiutare una persona cara.
  • rainews.it(opens in new tab) supports · Italian
    I Carabinieri hanno recuperato parte della refurtiva: oro, gioielli e contanti, per un valore stimato di oltre 900 mila euro.
Reported The investigation began from victims' complaints and used bank checks, phone records, video-surveillance images, databases and social media profiles.

Causal attribution. Carabinieri account as relayed; it does not say which of these checks established the AI voice cloning.

  • romatoday.it(opens in new tab) supports · Italian
    Le indagini dei carabinieri sono scaturite dalle denunce delle vittime, che hanno di fatto consentito di incrociare accertamenti bancari su carte e conti correnti e di eseguire una serie di analisi di tabulati telefonici, di immagini delle telecamere di videosorveglianza, di banche dati e profili social media.
Reported Il Messaggero reports that the cases involved different groups and that all 44 suspects come from Campania.

Causal attribution. One outlet's report; Fanpage describes a single network, so the structure of the groups is unresolved.

  • ilmessaggero.it(opens in new tab) supports · Italian
    Casi diversi e diverse le bande ma tutte accomunate dalla provenienza geografia poiché i 44 indagati sono tutti originari della Campania

Sources

4 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Italian on 2026-11-02; translated by the research agent (an AI). RomaToday, 3 June 2026, relaying the Carabinieri account ('Secondo quanto riferito dai militari'); HTTP 200. Applies to s1.

Read in Italian on 2026-11-02 through a Wayback Machine capture (the live page returned HTTP 403); translated by the research agent (an AI). Fanpage, 3 June 2026; same Carabinieri origin as s1. Applies to s2.

Read in Italian on 2026-11-02; translated by the research agent (an AI). RaiNews TGR Lazio, 4 June 2026; same Carabinieri origin as s1; HTTP 200. Applies to s3.

Read in Italian on 2026-11-02; translated by the research agent (an AI). Il Messaggero, 4 June 2026; same Carabinieri origin as s1; HTTP 200. Applies to s4.

Event countries: Italy. Affected-person countries: Italy. Court countries: Unknown.

Event and affected people: the Carabinieri of the Compagnia Roma Centro investigated frauds against victims who were almost all Roman residents (s1, s4). No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-11-02: Published as a reported police operation: the Rome Carabinieri, who investigated victims' complaints, say fraudsters used AI software to clone relatives' voices in calls that induced mostly older victims to transfer money, in 39 completed or attempted frauds between November 2025 and May 2026; the technical basis is undisclosed and no individual victim is described.

People described

Residents of Rome, most of them older people according to RomaToday, who received calls or text messages from people posing as bank staff, police or relatives in 39 completed or attempted frauds between November 2025 and May 2026. No individual victim is described and the number of people who lost money is not reported.

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

The Carabinieri count 39 frauds, completed or attempted ('39 episodi di truffe riuscite o tentate', Fanpage); attempted frauds need not have harmed anyone, victims are not counted individually and the share of cases in which a cloned voice was used is not stated, so the people harmed are unquantified (numeric zero placeholders). The 44 reported suspects and the value recovered are not counts of harmed people.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#voice-cloning#impersonation#fraud#phone-scam#older-people#italy

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Rome Carabinieri say phone fraud suspects used AI software to clone relatives' voices in calls that took money from mostly older residents. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-rome-carabinieri-say-fraud-suspects-used-ai-to-clone-relatives-voices-in-calls-to-mostly-older-victims

BibTeX

@misc{2025_rome_carabinieri_say_fraud_suspects_used_ai_to_clone_relatives_voices_in_calls_to_mostly_older_victims,
  title = {Rome Carabinieri say phone fraud suspects used AI software to clone relatives' voices in calls that took money from mostly older residents},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-rome-carabinieri-say-fraud-suspects-used-ai-to-clone-relatives-voices-in-calls-to-mostly-older-victims}
}

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