Secretary of State Marco Rubio is impersonated by AI in an attempt to scam foreign diplomats, a Congressman, and a Governor
Most of this impersonation occurred via the encrypted messaging app, Signal. Signal has already been a cause of embarrassment for Donald Trump's administration due to it being the source of prior security breaches, such as a leaked group chat discussing a bombing campaign in Yemen, in which both Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth were present.
Mario Rubio's AI impersonator used a fake email
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was impersonated by a scammer who used AI software to replicate his voice and contact government officials.Story: https://t.co/jqmmVRPXuK pic.twitter.com/ny4liAwTxO
Marco Rubio's impersonator used a fake email ID called Marco.Rubio@state.gov to establish contact with their targets. This fake email was used as a display name, and the scammer used AI generated voice memos to contact at least two people. The impersonator also tried to initiate text message conversations on the Signal app.
The potential for AI misuse has not gone unnoticed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), which issued a warning in May about 'an ongoing malicious text and voice messaging campaign' that deliberately impersonated senior US officials in order to build a rapport with others before asking for access to their personal accounts.
Concerns of AI impersonation and deepfakes are on the rise
🇺🇸 NOT MARCO RUBIO: AI SCAMMER TRICKS OFFICIALS WITH VOICE CLONESomeone used AI to mimic Marco Rubio's voice and writing, then messaged top officials on Signal pretending to be him.They hit up 3 foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a member of Congress - leaving fake… pic.twitter.com/G0cf74XGsr
With the increasing sophistication of AI tools and their ability to convincingly mimic human speech and writing patterns, concerns over AI impersonation and deepfakes have only begun to grow. Marco Rubio isn't the first high-level US official to be the victim of an AI impersonation, and he likely won't be the last.
Former president Joe Biden was the victim of an AI impersonation during the 2024 New Hampshire primary, where automated robocalls of a deepfake impersonation of him urged residents to not go out and vote.
Deepfakes have also impacted US foreign relations, with former Senator Ben Cardin revealing that he was once contacted by a deepfake of Ukranian diplomat Dmytro Kuleba and asked politically charged questions about the 2024 election.
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