Breitbart

An individual posing as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly used an AI-generated voice to call high-level officials in what appears to be an attempt to manipulate government officials to obtain access to information or accounts.

The unknown Rubio impostor has so far reportedly contacted at least five government officials: three foreign ministers, one U.S. governor, and one member of Congress, according to a State Department cable obtained by the Washington Post.

The individual — whom authorities have not yet been able to identify — reportedly used AI software to send the government officials text messages that mimicked Rubio’s voice and writing style.

[. . .] The unknown individual reportedly began their impersonation attempts in mid-June, using both text messaging and the encrypted messaging app Signal under the display name Marco.Rubio@state.gov, which is not the Secretary of State’s real email address.

[. . .] The cable also revealed that other U.S. State Department employees were impersonated via fake emails addresses.

The State Department told the Post it will “carry out a thorough investigation and continue to implement safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future,” and did not disclose the names of the government officials who were contacted, nor the content of the faux messages that were sent.

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security is investigating the matter, while U.S. diplomats are being urged to report “any impersonation attempts” to the agency. Non-State Department officials, meanwhile, have been told to report incidents to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

The AI-generated Rubio imposter incident comes after several recent impersonation attempts targeting high-profile U.S. officials.