--- title: "An Unknown Entity Has Voice Cloned the Secretary of State and Is Calling High Level Officials" description: "Secretary of state Marco Rubio has fallen victim to a scammer who's been using AI to clone his voice and writing style." date: "2025-07-08" modified: "2025-07-08" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/hacker-voice-cloned-secretary-of-state-calling-officials" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai clone" - "artificial intelligence" - "cybersecurity" - "donald trump" - "signal" --- # An Unknown Entity Has Voice Cloned the Secretary of State and Is Calling High Level Officials ![Secretary of state Marco Rubio has fallen victim to a scammer who's been using AI to clone his voice and writing style.]() *\Image: John McDonnell/Getty Images/Futurism\* In a perfect example of why it's an absolutely terrible idea for high-level government officials to use personal cell phones, text messaging platforms, and apps like Signal, secretary of state Marco Rubio has fallen victim to a scammer who's been using AI to clone his voice and writing style. As the [*Washington Post* reports](), a July 3 State Department cable revealed that an impostor posing as Rubio had "contacted at least five non-Department individuals, including three foreign ministers, a US governor, and a US. member of Congress" with the "goal of gaining access to information or accounts." "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 reads. While officials promised to "carry out a thorough investigation and continue to implement safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future," the incident highlights some glaring cybersecurity gaps among Trump administration officials. "This is precisely why you shouldn’t use Signal or other insecure channels for official government business," University of California at Berkeley professor Hany Farid told *WaPo*, noting that government officials can have major blind spots when it comes to data security. The news also comes after the phone of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles was breached, triggering an FBI investigation. At the time, the intelligence agency [warned]() that "malicious actors" were impersonating US officials as part of an "ongoing malicious text and voice messaging campaign." In an even more incriminating instance earlier this year, *The Atlantic*'s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was [accidentally added]() to a group text message between key national security advisers as they discussed an upcoming military strike in Yemen. According to Goldberg, an account related to Rubio was included in the group chat, meaning this month's impersonation attempt wasn't the first high-profile operational security blunder of his short tenure. Despite his poor cybersecurity record, Rubio has since been appointed as the president's national security advisor. The use of Signal, in particular, opens officials up to scammers. Impersonating voices in the age of generative AI is child's play and doesn't require any particularly sophisticated tools. "You just need 15 to 20 seconds of audio of the person, which is easy in Marco Rubio’s case," Farid told *WaPo*. "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." Given the larger trend of dismissing conventional and [far more secure communications channels](), we should expect Trump administration officials to continue to fall victim to impersonation attempts. Trump himself is setting the bar pretty low. The president has a long track record of using personal cell phones, [leaving him exposed]() to hackers from China and Iran. **More on Signalgate:** *[The Trump Administration Switched to a Sketchy Signal Clone and It Got Hacked, Leaking Messages]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()