FBI warns of malicious campaign featuring AI-generated voice impersonations of senior US officials

The FBI on Thursday issued a warning about an ongoing phishing campaign that includes voice messages that claim to be from senior government officials, but are actually generated by hackers using artificial intelligence. 

The malicious campaign has been going on since April and takes the form of text messages or AI-generated voice messages. The campaign, which is sent to former senior U.S. federal or state government officials and their contacts, is intended to “establish rapport before gaining access to personal accounts.”

The FBI urges people who are concerned they are being targeted to verify the identity of the person who is supposedly sending the message by researching the number or email it came from, look for subtle imperfections in images and videos, and pay close attention to the tone and word choice used in the message.

"AI-generated content has advanced to the point that it is often difficult to identify," the bureau said. "When in doubt about the authenticity of someone wishing to communicate with you, contact your relevant security officials or the FBI for help."

The FBI also said that hackers and scammers often send their targets hyperlinks to secondary messaging platforms or sites they operate that steal log-in information, like usernames and passwords.

Other ways people can protect themselves against scams include never sharing personal information about themselves or colleagues to someone they never met in person, never sending money or giftcards to people they never met, never clicking links without verifying the sender's identity, and setting up multi-factor authentication processes on all accounts that allow it.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.