Scammers are increasingly using AI-generated voice mails and texts to impersonate high-ranking U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. These deepfake scams have targeted governors, members of Congress, foreign diplomats, and business executives, making credible requests before sometimes asking for cash. Security experts warn about the growing ease and affordability of creating realistic AI fakes, posing a threat to democracy and leading to financial fraud, as seen in a recent Hong Kong case.
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TL;DR: Key points with love ❤️Scammers are increasingly using AI-generated voice mails and texts to impersonate high-ranking U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. These deepfake scams have targeted governors, members of Congress, foreign diplomats, and business executives, making credible requests before sometimes asking for cash. Security experts warn about the growing ease and affordability of creating realistic AI fakes, posing a threat to democracy and leading to financial fraud, as seen in a recent Hong Kong case.
Trending- 1 2018: Security experts warned about deepfakes and democracy since the U.S. midterms.
- 2 Late May (2025): Wall Street Journal reported FBI investigating efforts to impersonate Susie Wiles.
- 3 Two weeks ago (late June 2025): Canadian Centre for Cyber Security cautioned about imposters using AI-generated messages.
- 4 July 3 (2025): State Department cable dated, reporting fake Marco Rubio calls.
- 5 Last year (2024): Scammers duped a Hong Kong employee of Arup into transferring US$25 million using deepfake video.
- 6 Last month (June 2025): The New York Times published a roundup of real/AI-generated videos.
- Successful impersonations of high-ranking officials
- Financial fraud (e.g., US$25 million transferred in Hong Kong)
- Warnings from security experts about threats to democracy
- Increased difficulty in discerning real from fake digital content
What: Scammers are using AI-generated deepfakes to impersonate top U.S. White House officials and other senior public officials.
When: Published July 9, 2025. State Department cable dated July 3. Wall Street Journal reported in late May. Last year (2024) for Hong Kong case. Two weeks ago (late June 2025) for Canadian warning.
Where: United States (targeting governors, Congress members, diplomats), Hong Kong, Canada.
Why: To commit fraud, gather information, and potentially influence political figures or business executives. The ease and affordability of generative AI tools make these scams more accessible.
How: Scammers use AI to clone voices from short audio samples (e.g., social media, voicemails) and generate texts mirroring writing styles. They leave convincing voicemails or engage in video calls (as in the Hong Kong case) to make requests, sometimes escalating to asking for cash. They use popular messaging apps like Signal.