FBI Issues New Scam Warning, Says Fraudsters Have Been Impersonating ‘Senior US Officials’ in Text and Voice Messages

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is warning the public of an ongoing phishing scheme that preys on prospective victims by impersonating senior US officials.

The agency says that since April, malicious actors have sent text messages and artificial intelligence (AI)-generated voice messages that appear to be from senior US officials.

The scheme targets individuals who are mostly current or former senior US federal or state government officials and their contacts.

“If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior US official, do not assume it is authentic.”

The perpetrators use techniques known as smishing and vishing to carry out spear phishing, a form of phishing attack where bad actors send personalized messages to specific individuals or groups.

Smishing uses short message service (SMS) or multimedia message service (MMS) text messaging, while vishing uses phone calls or voice messages and may incorporate AI-generated voices.

The FBI says that the fraudsters aim to establish rapport and gain access to personal accounts. They can do this by sending malicious links to their victims under the pretense of switching to a separate messaging platform.

The agency says that contact information collected through social engineering schemes may be used to impersonate contacts to harvest information or obtain funds.

“Access to personal or official accounts operated by US officials could be used to target other government officials, or their associates and contacts, by using trusted contact information they obtain.”

Generated Image: Midjourney