An imposter has been posing as Secretary of State Marco Rubio in order to contact other high-level officials, including foreign ministers and a member of Congress, since at least June, the Washington Post reported.
A State Department cable obtained by the outlet, corroborated by a senior U.S. official who spoke on the subject, revealed that an unknown culprit is behind a string of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered audio and text messages mimicking Rubio’s voice and writing style.
The cable, sent from Rubio’s office to State Department employees on July 3, said the imposter sent regular texts and messages on the encrypted Signal app to “at least five non-Department individuals, including three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a U.S. member of Congress.”
While authorities reportedly do not know who the fake Rubio is, they said they suspect the poser reached out to other officials “with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts.”
The AI impersonations of the secretary appear to have started in mid-June, when the faker created a Signal account with the display name “[email protected],” the cable stated.
“The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal,” the communication said, adding that other Department employees were impersonated using email.
In a statement to the Washington Post, the State Department said it would “carry out a thorough investigation and continue to implement safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future.”
The specific officials contacted by the poser, or any responses the poser may have received from them are unclear.
The FBI issued a warning about similar AI-driven impersonations of officials by “malicious actors” in May, saying there was an “ongoing malicious text and voice messaging campaign.”
“If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior US official, do not assume it is authentic,” the bureau said in a public service announcement.
It is not clear if the FBI’s warning was about the Rubio impersonator, whose identity remains unknown.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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