Weeks after Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s personal belongings were stolen from a DC-area restaurant, authorities are investigating another targeted attempt at a member of the Trump administration.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the FBI is investigating an effort by an unknown individual to impersonate White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Per the report, the imposter has reportedly sent off text messages and placed phone calls to Republican lawmakers, governors and business executives in recent weeks pretending to be Wiles.
It’s unclear who is behind the campaign, and what their goal is, but the hacker appears to be using artificial intelligence to mimic Wiles’s voice — and in one case asked for cash transfer, according to the outlet.
According to the report, one text from the person claiming to be Wiles asked a lawmaker to put together a list of people who could be pardoned by President Trump.
The messages were deemed suspicious to some because they didn’t come from Wiles’s phone number, asked questions about Trump that the chief of staff would’ve known, were more formal than usual and contained broken grammar.
FBI officials have informed the White House they don’t suspect a foreign nation is behind the con.
However, Wiles’ email account was reportedly hacked by Iranian operatives targeting the Trump campaign during last year’s presidential campaign, according to the New York Post.
Three members of Iran’s notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were indicted over the hacking last September.
“The White House takes the cybersecurity of all staff very seriously, and this matter continues to be investigated,” a White House spokeswoman said.
Earlier this month, the FBI warned of “an ongoing malicious text and voice messaging campaign” that has been occurring since April, where actors have “impersonated senior US officials to target individuals, many of whom are current or former senior US federal or state government officials and their contacts.
“The malicious actors have sent text messages and AI-generated voice messages — techniques known as smishing and vishing, respectively — that claim to come from a senior US official in an effort to establish rapport before gaining access to personal accounts,” read the warning released by the bureau on May 15.
FBI Director Kash Patel told the Wall Street Journal that the bureau “takes all threats against the president, his staff, and our cybersecurity with the utmost seriousness.”
“Safeguarding our administration officials’ ability to securely communicate to accomplish the president’s mission is a top priority,” he added.
The White House and FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.