Senior US Officials Impersonated in Malicious Messaging Campaign


FBI is issuing this announcement to warn and provide mitigation tips to the public about an ongoing malicious text and voice messaging campaign.

Since April 2025, malicious 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. If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior US official, do not assume it is authentic. 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 more…
Source: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division


Sign up for our Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.


Related:

  • CISA: Advanced Persistent Threat Actors Targeting U.S. Think Tanks

    December 1, 2020

    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have observed persistent continued cyber intrusions by advanced persistent threat (APT) actors targeting U.S. think tanks. This malicious activity is often, but not exclusively, directed at individuals and organizations that focus on international affairs or national security policy. The following guidance ...

  • FINRA Alerts Firms to Phishing Email Using Invest-FINRA.org Domain Name

    November 30, 2020

    FINRA warns member firms of an ongoing phishing campaign that involves fraudulent emails that include the domain “@invest-finra.org”. FINRA recommends that anyone who clicked on any link or image in the email immediately notify the appropriate individuals in their firm of the incident. The domain of “invest-finra.org” is not connected to FINRA and firms should delete ...

  • FBI: Hackers stole source code from US government agencies and private companies

    November 7, 2020

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation has sent out a security alert warning that threat actors are abusing misconfigured SonarQube applications to access and steal source code repositories from US government agencies and private businesses. Intrusions have taken place since at least April 2020, the FBI said in an alert sent out last month and made public ...

  • US, Brazilian law enforcement seize $24 million in cryptocurrency generated through online fraud

    November 5, 2020

    US and Brazilian authorities have seized $24 million in cryptocurrency connected to an online scheme that allegedly defrauded “tens of thousands” of investors. Upon request from the government of Brazil, US law enforcement participated in “Operation Egypto,” a Brazilian federal investigation into the suspected scam, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said on Wednesday. Read more… Source: ZDNet  

  • QBot phishing lures victims using US election interference emails

    November 4, 2020

    The Qbot botnet is now spewing U.S. election-themed phishing emails used to infect victims with malicious payloads designed to harvest user data and emails for use in future campaigns. Qbot (aka Qakbot, Pinkslipbot, and Quakbot) is a banking trojan with worm features actively used since at least 2009 to steal financial data and ...

  • Abandoned Hunter Biden’s laptop contained phone numbers for the Clintons, Secret Service officers and most of the Obama cabinet

    November 1, 2020

    The son of the man expected by many to be America’s next President abandoned a laptop containing a treasure trove of top-secret material, including his father’s private emails and mobile phone numbers, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. In an astonishing lapse, Hunter Biden chose to protect his MacBook Pro computer – crammed with what an ...