Marco Rubio Imposter Calling High-Level Officials Using AI-Generated Voice: Report

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Someone posing as Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been contacting U.S. officials using AI-generated voice and text, according to a new report.

The Washington Post’s John Hudson and Hannah Natanson reported this week, citing a State Department cable and a “senior U.S. official,” that the imposter Rubio contacted foreign ministers, a governor, and a member of Congress. The cable from Rubio’s office reportedly theorizes that the imposter is trying to gain “access to information or accounts.”

Officials were contacted in mid-June through the messaging app Signal and the warning cable was sent out by Rubio’s office on July 3, according to the report.

Signal was at the center of recent controversy with Mike Waltz leaving his post as White House National Security advisor after a reporter was accidentally invited into a group discussing attack plans. Waltz was then nominated to be the ambassador of the United Nations, while Rubio was appointed interim National Security advisor.

The cable states that others were also impersonated and the person posing as Rubio used both voicemails and a message on Signal inviting officials to chat. The State Department said they are conducting a “thorough investigation and continue to implement safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future.”

This is not the first time someone has tried posing as a high-level official. President Donald Trump said in May that an imposter posed as White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in calls to other officials.

“I’ve heard they breached her phone and tried to impersonate her,” the president said at the time. “Nobody can impersonate Susie. There’s only one Susie.”