In a chilling escalation of cybercrime tactics, hackers are now leveraging deepfake technology to impersonate senior U.S. government officials in a series of phishing campaigns aimed at stealing sensitive data, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned.
According to a public advisory issued by the FBI on May 15, these malicious actors have been actively targeting federal and state government officials since April. By combining synthetic voice recordings and deceptive text messages, the perpetrators are attempting to establish credibility and gain the trust of their victims, posing as high-ranking U.S. officials.
The FBI has released a #PSA warning about an ongoing malicious text and AI-generated voice messaging campaign impersonating senior US federal or state government officials. Click for tips to help you spot a fake message: https://t.co/DUtzh35cUK pic.twitter.com/fdaT7c0jSF
— FBI (@FBI) May 15, 2025
The consequences of these impersonation attacks could spiral quickly. The FBI highlighted the heightened risk that should any legitimate accounts be compromised; attackers could exploit the trust associated with those accounts to breach additional government targets and their networks.
Hackers reportedly use malicious links to lure victims onto attacker-controlled websites to extract login credentials and other confidential information. The bureau added that contact details collected through these schemes could be repurposed to impersonate colleagues and solicit further data or financial transfers.
While the FBI focuses on state actors and officials, deepfake threats are also wreaking havoc in the private sector. On May 13, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal revealed on Xmb that cybercriminals had used deepfakes of him and his team to scam individuals on Telegram.
Scammers hijacked Shreyansh Singh’s Telegram account and contacted his contacts to join a Zoom meeting. During the meeting without audio, victims encountered deepfake videos of key figures, including Nailwal and a third person. They were prompted to install a suspicious software development kit (SDK). Nailwal described this method as “horrifying.”
Other industry figures have also reported being targeted by similar scams, including prominent Web3 personality Dovey Wan. Nailwal advised users to avoid installing applications or scripts during unsolicited virtual interactions and to consider using a separate device to manage crypto wallets.
Additionally, in August 2024, the FBI warned about a rising scam where fraudsters impersonate employees of cryptocurrency exchanges to steal users’ funds.
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