Be on the lookout for deepfake and AI government officials, FBI warns

• The FBI published a new announcement, warning about ongoing attacks
• In the attacks, the crooks are impersonating senior US officials on both federal and state level
• In many cases, the attackers are sending cloned voice messages

Cybercriminals are impersonating senior US officials in highly sophisticated smishing and vishing attacks that leverage state-of-the-art technology such as deepfake and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

This is according to the FBI, which warned US citizens about an ongoing phishing campaign, in a new public service announcement published May 15.

The announcement states that threat actors are creating credible audio and text messages, in many cases impersonating current and former senior US federal and state government officials, or their contacts, the FBI said. “If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior US official, do not assume it is authentic,” the warning reads.

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