AI Impersonation Scam Targets Foreign Ministers and US Officials

An impersonator has been using artificial intelligence to mimic the speech and writing style of Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a sophisticated scam targeting foreign ministers and other high-profile individuals. The scammer created a Signal account with the display name “Marco.Rubio@state.gov” to reach out to unsuspecting diplomats and politicians both at home and abroad, beginning in mid-June. The impersonator sent voicemails via Signal and used text messages to encourage conversations on the app, with other state officials also being impersonated using email.

The scammer targeted at least five non-Department individuals, including three foreign ministers, a US governor, and a US member of Congress. US authorities believe the scammer intended to obtain sensitive information or accounts from these individuals. The State Department has pledged to investigate the matter and set precautionary measures to avert such instances in the future. However, the contents of the messages and the names of the targeted diplomats have not been disclosed.

Diplomats have been asked to report impersonation attempts to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, while non-State Department officials are to report to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. This incident is not the first impersonation attempt directed at prominent US officials this year. In May, a hacker accessed the phone of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and, posing as her, contacted several senators, governors, and corporate executives. The case even had FBI and White House officials corroborate for an investigation.

Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, criticized officials’ lax attitudes toward data security, stating that most of these attacks often succeed due to officials’ carelessness. He added that using insecure channels for official government business is risky. In Rubio’s case, he commented that only 15 to 20 seconds of audio of the person is needed to create a convincing impersonation, which is easy in Marco Rubio’s case. You upload it to any number of services, click a button that says ‘I have permission to use this person’s voice,’ and then you type what you want him to say.

In March, the former White House national security adviser, Michael Waltz, accidentally included a journalist in a Signal group chat talking about classified Yemen operations. Despite this gaffe, the vast majority of officials continue to use the Signal platform for their personal and professional conversations. In May, the FBI warned of an ongoing scam with actors posing as senior officials in malicious texts, recognizing that their messages were mostly AI-generated and aimed at securing information or money.

Additionally, in June, Ukraine’s Security Service revealed that Russian intelligence agents were impersonating the agency to enlist Ukrainian citizens for sabotage missions. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security also reported a similar case, with actors posing as high-profile officials and sending AI messages to extract sensitive information, steal money, or deploy malware. This incident highlights the growing threat of AI-driven impersonation scams targeting high-profile individuals and the need for increased vigilance and security measures.