An enigmatic individual posing as Secretary of State Marco Rubio has contacted three foreign ministers along with two senior US officials by mimicking his identity through AI, a report reveals.
The imposter’s identity remains undisclosed, yet it appears his intention is “to access information or accounts,” cautioned a memo dated July 3, sent to State Department personnel, as reported by the Washington Post.
Besides reaching out to the three unnamed foreign ministers, the Rubio doppelgänger also engaged with a US governor and a congressional member, according to the report.
“The actor left voicemails on the private encrypted messaging app Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal,” the State Department warning said.
Authorities believe that the ruse began sometime around mid-June and noted that the scammer set up a Signal account with the name “Marco.Rubio@state.gov” to correspond with the officials. That email is not Rubio’s actual address.
The imposter worked to imitate the secretary of state’s writing style and voice when blasting out the messages, tapping into artificial-intelligence-powered software to do so, the Washington Post said.
The State Department warning about the incidents did not make it clear whether any of the top officials who were contacted ever responded.
Department employees were urged to alert the Bureau of Diplomatic Security about “any impersonation attempts.”
US officials vowed to “carry out a thorough investigation and continue to implement safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future.”
It is illegal to mimic a federal officer in a bid to gain confidential information.
Neither the State Department nor FBI responded to the New York Post’s requests for comment.
Revelations about the Rubio imposter come on the heels of multiple high-profile impersonations. In May, a misfeasor gained access to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ phone system and began reaching out to various politicians and business leaders, according to the Wall Street Journal.
That same month, the FBI broadly warned about efforts to impersonate top US officials.
“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,” the FBI said.
“If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior US official, do not assume it is authentic.”
In March, Signal was thrust into the political fray when a chat organized by former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and including Rubio and other top Trump administration officials was accidentally leaked to an included journalist. The discussion involved a planned US attack on Yemen.
The serious flub, dubbed “Signalgate,” sparked controversy over top officials using the encrypted messaging service instead of other advanced more secure communications networks.
