Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 11, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleFlorence cathedral managers fell victim to a 1.5-million-euro email scam. Italian police arrested 10 people in connection with the fraud.
ROME, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Italian police said on Thursday they had broken up an international criminal organisation that had swindled some 30 million euros ($35.2 million) from victims including the cultural body that manages Florence's artistic monuments.
Prosecutors in the northern city of Brescia issued warrants for the arrest of 10 people including Italian, Nigerian, Albanian and Chinese nationals accused of money laundering and issuing false invoices.
They launched the investigation after the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, a non-profit organisation that manages Florence cathedral and other city landmarks, reported that it had been the victim of an email scam.
Intercepting email correspondence, criminals posed as the company that carried out restoration and conservation work for the Opera and received nearly 1.8 million euros from it, a police statement said.
Authorities managed to retrieve about 300,000 euros, leaving the organisation short of almost 1.5 million euros.
Their broader investigation uncovered a growing ring of loan-sharking and money laundering by Chinese criminal organisations in Italy, said Brescia's Chief Prosecutor Francesco Prete.
"Chinese money laundering is taking on worrying dimensions because we can't understand what the source of the cash supply is," he said at a news conference.
None of the people arrested or being sought by police were named.
($1 = 0.8511 euros)
(Reporting By Gavin Jones, editing by Alvise Armellini)
Money laundering is the process of making illegally obtained money appear legitimate. It typically involves three steps: placement, layering, and integration.
Cybersecurity refers to the practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks. It aims to safeguard sensitive information from unauthorized access.
Financial crime encompasses a range of illegal activities involving money, such as fraud, money laundering, and embezzlement, often aimed at financial gain.
An email scam is a fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information or money from individuals via deceptive emails. Scammers often impersonate legitimate organizations.
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