Deepfake voice scams target US officials in phishing surge
FBI urges caution as deepfake scams spread, targeting officials and crypto executives with malicious calls and messages.
Hackers are using deepfake voice and video technology to impersonate senior US government officials and high-profile tech figures in sophisticated phishing campaigns designed to steal sensitive data, the FBI has warned.
Since April, cybercriminals have been contacting current and former federal and state officials through fake voice messages and text messages claiming to be from trusted sources.
The scammers attempt to establish rapport and then direct victims to malicious websites to extract passwords and other private information.
The FBI cautions that if hackers compromise one official’s account, they may use that access to impersonate them further and target others in their network.
The agency urges individuals to verify identities, avoid unsolicited links, and enable multifactor authentication to protect sensitive accounts.
Separately, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal reported a deepfake scam in which bad actors impersonated him and colleagues via Zoom, urging crypto users to install malicious scripts. He described the attack as ‘horrifying’ and noted the difficulty of reporting such incidents to platforms like Telegram.
The FBI and cybersecurity experts recommend examining media for visual inconsistencies, avoiding software downloads during unverified calls, and never sharing credentials or wallet access unless certain of the source’s legitimacy.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!