Trump Officials Targeted by ‘Vishing’

A series of alarming impersonation attempts over the year have shown that Donald Trump administration officials are increasingly being targeted by artificial intelligence-powered phishing schemes. The FBI has issued growing alerts about “vishing” — fake voice calls designed to mimic trusted individuals to gain access to sensitive government data and systems.

FBI Issues Major Alert

Recently, the FBI issued its first major alert about a widespread campaign impersonating senior Trump administration officials. “Since April 2025, malicious actors have impersonated senior U.S. officials to target individuals, many of whom are current or former senior U.S. federal or state government officials and their contacts. If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior U.S. official, do not assume it is authentic,” the alert from the FBI read. The alert further explained the growing instances of “vishing,” saying that it relies on voice-based manipulation — often using AI-generated audio — to impersonate trusted figures.

Marco Rubio Targeted by ‘Vishing’

In mid‑June, an unseen actor impersonated Secretary of State Marco Rubio using deepfake audio and text messages. According to a State Department cable, the impostor contacted at least five individuals including three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress via Signal and SMS. The campaign reportedly sought access to confidential information or official accounts, leveraging a display name (“[email protected],” which is not Rubio’s real email address) crafted to appear legitimate. “The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal,” the cable said. Other instances involved email impersonation of additional State Department personnel. Rubio is not the first Trump administration official to be impersonated.

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles Becomes a Target

Before Rubio was targeted by vishing attempts, federal authorities were looking into an unknown individual’s impersonation of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to try to reach out to prominent Republican senators and congress members, as well as business executives. “Wiles claimed her personal cellphone’s contacts were hacked, and while calls and messages did not come from her number, recipients claimed the voice on the line sounded like hers, leading officials to believe AI technology was utilized,” reports have mentioned. Despite the severity, President Trump downplayed the episode and appeared unbothered, saying in a statement, “I’ve heard they breached her phone and tried to impersonate her. … Nobody can impersonate Susie. There’s only one Susie.” However, the White House and FBI said at the time that they were taking the incident seriously.

‘Vishing’ Does Not Require Sophisticated Actors

Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who specializes in digital forensics, said operations of this nature do not require sophisticated actors. In fact, operations like vishing are successful because government officials can be careless about data security, says Farid. “This is precisely why you shouldn’t use Signal or other insecure channels for official government business,” he said. He further explained, “You just need 15 to 20 seconds of audio of the person, which is easy in Marco Rubio’s case. You upload it to any number of services, click a button that says, ‘I have permission to use this person’s voice,’ and then you type what you want him to say. … Leaving voicemails is particularly effective because it’s not interactive.”

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