An alarming AI-powered scam is unfolding as an impostor poses as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, targeting high-ranking officials across the globe.
The impersonator creates a Signal account using the address “Marco.Rubio@state.gov” and reaches out to three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a member of Congress using AI-generated voicemails and messages designed to sound like Rubio himself. The goal appears to be coaxing the recipients into private, encrypted chats — possibly to extract sensitive information or credentials.
The State Department issued a cable on July 3 warning embassies and consulates worldwide of the impersonation attempt. While no official systems are breached, the warning notes that any information voluntarily disclosed could be compromised. The scammer’s messages are persuasive, not only because of the realistic voice cloning but because they claim Rubio holds Cabinet-level authority, boosting credibility.
This isn’t an isolated incident. Similar scams surface earlier this year, including one involving White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, where hackers reportedly use her contact list to distribute fake messages to governors and business leaders. In each case, voice cloning and message spoofing are central to the deception.
Experts warn that modern voice cloning tools need as little as three to seven seconds of audio to generate a convincing replica. This opens the door to more sophisticated phishing schemes that combine AI with social engineering. According to former Obama adviser David Axelrod, the rise of AI impersonation is turning communications into “an arms race” between scammers and those trying to detect them.
The FBI is now involved, and federal cybersecurity officials are urging high-level personnel to verify unexpected communications through secondary channels. They recommend pre-established security phrases, secure video verification, and limiting personal voice exposure online. The incident involving Rubio, although described as “not very sophisticated,” serves as a warning of how quickly things could escalate.
The State Department is doubling down on internal security and encouraging staff to adopt strict verification practices. Messaging apps like Signal — long favored for their encryption — now represent a new kind of vulnerability when trust is compromised at the source. As this impersonation attempt shows, AI technology doesn’t need to hack systems to be dangerous — it just needs to convince the right person to believe a lie.
In a world where a cloned voice can unlock access to conversations once considered secure, officials are learning that authenticity can no longer be assumed. The line between reality and forgery is blurring — and diplomacy, cybersecurity, and national trust may hang in the balance.
