The US federal government is investigating a case of impersonating White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Earlier, an unidentified man posed as Andrew Wiles and contacted a number of Republican Party and executives. The move comes as the FBI and the White House investigate who was behind the action and why.
Susan Wiles (third from left) , source: US media
In recent weeks, senators, American business executives and other prominent people have received text messages and phone calls from a man claiming to be a White House Chief of Staff, the report quoted people familiar with the matter as saying. The information, however, is not from Andrew Wiles himself. Some people who have answered the phone say the voice of the caller bears an uncanny resemblance to Andrew Wiles’s. Some officials believe the impostor may have used artificial intelligence to simulate her voice.
People familiar with the matter also said that some of the text messages appeared to be official at first. One congressman, for example, received a message from the impostor asking him to compile a list of people who could be pardoned by the president. Others said the tone of the message was not in line with Andrew Wiles’s usual communication style and that the text messages and phone calls did not come from her usual number.
In response, a white house spokesman said, “The White House attaches great importance to the cyber security of all its staff, and the matter is still under investigation,” FBI Director Cash Patel said in a statement, the FBI takes all cyber security threats against the president and government employees seriously.