Seniors and professionals defrauded by AI voice cloning scams impersonating family members across Europe

Summary

A scam involving artificial intelligence (AI) impersonated the voice of a senior member of US President Donald Trump’s administration, specifically US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The imposter contacted three foreign ministers, a US governor, and a member of Congress via the encrypted app Signal. US authorities believe the scam aimed to manipulate officials to gain access to information or accounts, though the perpetrator remains unidentified. Scammers use AI to clone voices from short audio samples, often sourced from social media platforms like TikTok, to create realistic voice replicas. The FBI warns of “smishing” and “vishing” scams, which use voice or text messages with links to deceive victims. To avoid such scams, cybersecurity experts recommend verifying unexpected calls, being cautious of caller ID spoofing, and using secret words or phrases to confirm identities.