Bank of Italy Warned That Purported Deepfakes of Governor Fabio Panetta Were Used in Allegedly Fraudulent Investment Promotions

The Bank of Italy warned that purportedly fake content using Governor Fabio Panetta's name and likeness were reportedly circulating online to promote alleged investment opportunities. The bank said some of the material had been created with purported deepfake techniques and was likely intended to defraud the public. It filed a complaint with judicial authorities.

Risk classification

• Primary risk domain: 4 Malicious actors
• Primary risk subdomain: 4.3 Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation

The incident involves the unauthorized use of deepfake technology to impersonate a prominent public figure in order to facilitate financial scams and deceive the public.

Causal factors

• Entity: Human
• Intent: Intentional
• Timing: Post-deployment

The risk was caused by human malicious actors intentionally deploying deepfake AI tools post-deployment to commit financial fraud.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Risk Level 3: Limited Risk. The report describes the creation of deepfakes, which are explicitly categorized under Limited Risk due to transparency obligations requiring users to be informed when interacting with AI-generated content.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: None named
• AI purpose: Deepfake Video Generation; Deepfake Image Generation
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Unknown voice cloning technology developers, Unknown image generator developers, Unknown generative AI developers, Unknown deepfake technology developers
• Alleged deployer: Unknown scammers impersonating Fabio Panetta, Unknown scammers
• Alleged harmed parties: General public of Italy, General public, Fabio Panetta, Epistemic integrity, Bank of Italy, Banca d'Italia

Harm severity

Highest direct severity in any category: Substantial. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.

• Physical: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Infrastructure: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Property: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Financial: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Malicious content: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
• Differential treatment: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Civil rights: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Democracy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Privacy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Psychological: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Epistemic: direct Minor, indirect Minor
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible

Malicious content

Reported: Yes

Directly caused: The creation of fabricated deepfake videos, images, and articles falsely showing Fabio Panetta endorsing investment products.

Indirectly caused: N/A

Inferred additional harm: It is likely that these malicious materials reached thousands of social media users across Italy before being flagged or taken down.

Epistemic

Reported: Yes

Directly caused: Fabrication of media showing the Governor of the Bank of Italy participating in TV shows and endorsing investment platforms.

Indirectly caused: Potential erosion of public trust in official communications from the Bank of Italy and its Governor.

Inferred additional harm: Widespread dissemination of these deepfakes likely contributed to a broader erosion of trust in digital media and public institutions among the Italian public.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 1
• People reportedly harmed: 1

Potential causes

Management

• Reputational Risk Exposure: Need to safeguard the governor's and the institution's reputation.
• Information Verification Gaps: Need to actively direct the public to official communication channels.

Technology

• AI Deepfake Algorithms: Used to create convincing digital manipulation of audio and video of people.
• Convincing Imitation Capabilities: AI allowed realistic imitation of the governor on TV shows.

Data Inputs

• Unauthorized Use of Image and Name: The governor's identity was improperly used to create fake media.
• Fabricated Media Contexts: Creation of false articles and TV show appearances to host the scam.

Human Factors

• Public Susceptibility to Deception: The public may believe fake videos endorsing fraudulent investments.
• Risk of Sharing Fake Content: Sharing of manipulated media by users spreads the scam further.

Process and Methods

• Lack of Automated Detection: Online networks lacked systems to prevent the upload of deepfakes.
• Reactive Legal Action: The central bank had to file post-incident judicial complaints.

Regulatory Environment

• Inadequate Online Oversight: Lack of regulation to prevent unauthorized AI use of official identities.
• Difficulties in Fraud Prosecution: Legal processes are slow to stop rapid online dissemination of deepfakes.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The reports from multiple reputable sources consistently describe the same incident: a warning about deepfake videos of Fabio Panetta. The facts are clear, and there are no conflicting accounts.
• Ambiguities identified: The specific AI tools or platforms used to generate the deepfakes are not identified.
• Alternative interpretations: None. The incident is clearly a deepfake-enabled financial scam.

The incident involves the use of AI-generated deepfakes to impersonate Bank of Italy Governor Fabio Panetta in fraudulent investment schemes. While it represents a reputational risk to a key financial institution and poses a fraud threat to the public, it has minor national security implications and is being managed through standard judicial and regulatory channels.

• Overall national security impact: Minor
• Response level: Moderate
• Scope: Single nation
• Primary target: Italy
• Alleged perpetrator: Unknown

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. Represents an ongoing strategic concern regarding the proliferation of deepfakes rather than an active national security crisis.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI deepfake tools were used as static generation instruments controlled and deployed directly by human fraudsters.
• Novelty: Established threat. Deepfake-enabled financial scams impersonating prominent public and financial figures are a well-documented and established threat.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. No physical threat, kinetic attacks, or critical infrastructure compromise reported in this incident.
• Information security: Minor. Involves AI-generated deepfakes of a high-profile public official, but the intent was financial fraud rather than state-sponsored information warfare or intelligence compromise.
• Sovereignty: Minor. Impersonation of the Bank of Italy Governor Fabio Panetta slightly impacts institutional reputation, but does not disrupt core government decision-making or constitutional processes.
• Economic security: Minor. Deceptive investment scams exploit the likeness of the central bank governor, posing a minor threat to public trust in financial leadership but not systemic financial stability.
• Societal stability: Minor. Potential for financial loss among the public and minor epistemic harm regarding trust in official bank communications, but no large-scale societal instability.