FBI "sets eyes" on AI

Cyber fraudsters are using AI-generated voices to impersonate high-ranking US officials in a sophisticated "vishing" campaign, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned, according to CNBC.

• Voice of US officials replicated by AI

According to the FBI, malicious actors are sending fake AI-generated voice messages that imitate the voices of high-ranking government officials. The goal of these messages is to gain the trust of victims and gain access to their personal accounts. "If you receive a message claiming to be from a high-ranking US official, do not assume it is genuine," the FBI warns in the statement.

• Targeted attacks against officials and their networks

The primary targets of this campaign are "current or former high-ranking US federal or state government officials, as well as their direct contacts." Scammers use social engineering techniques to obtain contact information, then send malicious links via text or voice messages, with the goal of moving the conversation to platforms that are harder to monitor and taking control of the accounts.

Once they gain access to a person's accounts, criminals can expand the attack, using the victim's identity to defraud other officials in the network or to obtain additional funds or information.

• Vishing and smishing techniques increasingly common

The FBI says these schemes combine vishing (voice message fraud) and smishing (SMS fraud). Since last month, the agency has seen an increase in AI-generated messages distributed to potential victims, without providing details about the identities of the impersonated officials or the source of the attacks.

• A growing international phenomenon

Canadian police have raised the alarm: criminals are using short audio clips found on the Internet to recreate the real voices of victims' loved ones, for the purpose of blackmail or obtaining money, a sophisticated method of the old scam known as the "accident method".

FBI data shows that in 2024, the most common cybercrimes were: Phishing; Extortion; Breach of personal data security. The elderly are the most affected, with losses estimated at almost 5 billion dollars.