Scammers Impersonating High-Ranking Officials, Executives to Steal Money, Information: Canadian Cyber Security Officials

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security have issued an advisory warning about scammers. Karen Roach/Shutterstock

Scammers are using artificial intelligence to impersonate government officials and prominent public figures to steal money and information from Canadians, security officials say.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security have issued a joint advisory warning of a “spike in malicious cyber activity” involving scammers who use text messages and AI-generated voice messages to target their victims.

“Threat actors” are using AI and social engineering techniques such as vishing and phishing to impersonate senior public officials and business executives with the aim of stealing money, sensitive information, or both, Cyber Centre spokesperson Janny Bender Asselin told The Epoch Times in an email.

Vishing, short for voice phishing, involves fraudulent phone calls or voice messages intended to deceive victims into revealing sensitive information. Phishing is a similar tactic, but it is executed through emails or other forms of text-based communication.

“In one case, a fraudulent message appearing to come from a U.S. official requested a large transfer of money under the pretence of an urgent government-related matter,” Asselin said, but she declined to say who the recipient was or if the money was transferred to the scammer.

She also declined to comment on the specific government officials or executives being impersonated or targeted by the cyber scam.

While no specific details are being released, the advisory warns that anyone receiving an unexpected message or call from an individual claiming to be a high-ranking government official or an employer should be vigilant and wary, especially if the message asks them to perform urgent or unusual tasks.

The advisory indicates that the most recent scam seems to be connected to an ongoing campaign in the United States, identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in a public service announcement in May.

The FBI reported that since April 2025, fraudsters posing as “senior US officials” have been targeting various individuals, with many of whom being current or former senior U.S. federal or state government officials and their contacts. The fraudsters send a link to supposedly move the discussion to a different messaging application, but the URL is actually designed to compromise the victim’s device with malware.

“Access to personal or official accounts operated by US officials could be used to target other government officials, or their associates and contacts, by using trusted contact information they obtain,” the FBI said in the May 15 announcement. “Contact information acquired through social engineering schemes could also be used to impersonate contacts to elicit information or funds.”

Increasing Threat

This isn’t the first time Canadian officials have shared information about such “malicious” tactics. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security published a report last December about Iranian state-sponsored social engineered spear phishing campaigns.

Spear phishing is the use of spoofed emails to persuade people in an organization to reveal their usernames or passwords. It is small-scale and targeted, as opposed to phishing, which involves mass emailing.

Asselin said the Iranian threat actors used customized social engineering to “enhance their spear phishing effectiveness against targets considered to be of political, economic, or military value.”

She noted that AI technologies are enhancing “the quality and scale of foreign online influence campaigns,” adding that it is important for Canadians to learn how to safeguard themselves. Such attacks will continue to grow as AI improves “the personalization and persuasiveness of social engineering attacks,” she added.

The advisory says Canadians should be on the lookout for suspicious warning signs, including directives to switch to a different communications platform, messages containing questionable links or soliciting personal or financial details, and discrepancies in voice, video, or message tone that seem out of character for the alleged sender.

It also cautions against placing trust in display names, because they can be easily spoofed or forged. It advises that recipients of unusual messages verify such requests by contacting the person or organization the message supposedly came from through previously established channels.