UK energy firm CEO-voice fraud (~EUR220,000)

In March 2019 the CEO of a UK-based energy firm believed he was on a call with the chief executive of the firm's German parent company, who urgently instructed him to transfer about EUR220,000 (~US$243,000) to a 'Hungarian supplier' within the hour. According to the company's insurer Euler Hermes (a subsidiary of Allianz), criminals had used AI-based software to clone the German executive's voice — the UK CEO recognised the boss's slight German accent and the 'melody' of his speech. The funds were routed to a Hungarian account, then moved to Mexico and dispersed further. Euler Hermes declined to name the victim companies and law enforcement did not publicly confirm the precise tooling, so the AI attribution rests on the insurer's fraud expert; it became the canonical early example of voice-clone-enabled business-email/CEO fraud (a vishing variant).