Trump aide caught in impersonation scam
US authorities are investigating an individual who has allegedly been impersonating White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The impersonator has been attempting to deceive prominent Republican senators, governors and business leaders over the past several weeks, by pretending to be Wiles, sources familiar with the investigation have told the newspaper. The individual has reportedly used text messages and phone calls using a voice likely generated by AI.
Some of the targets interacted with the imposter, but others found the messages immediately suspicious as they contained grammatical errors and used an overly formal tone that did not align with Wiles' style.
Some recipients were asked questions Wiles would be expected to know, and in at least one case, the caller solicited a money transfer.
Sources told the WSJ that Wiles suspects her personal phone may have been hacked and her contact list compromised, but investigators have yet to confirm that theory.
The FBI does not believe a foreign government is behind the scheme, according to the report.
While Wiles' contacts have been notified, fraudulent messages were sent as recently as this week, including while she was accompanying Trump on a trip to the Middle East, sources told the outlet.
In May, then-national security adviser Mike Waltz became embroiled in a separate communications mishap after mistakenly adding a senior editor with The Atlantic to a private Signal group chat.
Trump later stated that Waltz had 'learned a lesson,' though media reports claimed that internal pressure mounted for his removal. His resignation was announced earlier this month.
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