FBI: Deepfake campaign spoofing government officials ongoing for longer than thought

Attacks exploiting AI voice cloning tools to spoof U.S. government officials, members of Congress, and their family members in a bid to compromise sensitive information were noted by the FBI to have been underway since 2023, months after initially reporting the phishing campaign to have commenced only in April, CyberScoop reports.

Malicious SMS messages have been sent by threat actors masquerading as government officials to lure targets into moving to more secure messaging apps, such as Telegram, Signal, or WhatsApp, where targets would be convinced into scheduling a meeting with high-ranking officials, including President Donald Trump, according to an FBI alert. Targets were then sought to provide passport photos and other sensitive information, as well as sync their devices' contact lists.

"Once actors have access to the victims contact list, they send out another round of smishing or vishing messages, this time impersonating the last victim or another notable figure the new targeted individual would logically come in contact with," said the FBI.