When Seeing (and Hearing) Isn't Believing: Defending Against AI-Powered Impersonation Scams (Webinar)

Generative AI has handed social engineers a powerful new toolkit, and federal employees are already targets. In July 2025, someone used cloned audio and text to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio, contacting foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a sitting senator over Signal. The FBI has confirmed that impersonation of senior officials is an active, ongoing campaign. Government impersonation complaints nearly doubled in 2025, with reported losses topping $797 million.

This 45-minute session gives you a plain language breakdown of what deepfakes, voice cloning, and AI-generated phishing text actually are, and how attackers combine them to make phishing, vishing, and smishing far more convincing than the scams of a year ago. We walk through the Rubio case in detail, from first contact to the tells that finally gave it away.

Attendees will also test their own eye and ear. In a live "Real or Fake?" challenge, you will compare authentic archival footage with an AI-generated deepfake and vote on which is real before we reveal the answer and show you what to look and listen for. Most people get it wrong, which is exactly the point.

Key Takeaways

Understand what deepfakes, voice cloning, and AI-generated text actually are
Recognize the verbal, visual, timing, and behavioral red flags of an impersonation attempt
Apply a simple verify before you trust step before acting on any unusual request
Know how to report a suspected incident internally and externally through IC3.gov
Test your own detection skills against real and AI-generated audio and video

What You’ll Learn

Explain how generative AI has changed social engineering, including what deepfakes and voice cloning are and how they are combined with AI written text to make phishing, vishing, and smishing far more convincing than the "bad grammar" scams of the past.
Recognize real world red flags, including the verbal, visual, timing, and behavioral cues that give away an AI generated impersonation, using a documented case involving a senior U.S. official as a reference point.
Apply a simple "verify before you trust" protocol by using an independent verification step, such as a callback to a known number, an established code word, or a secondary channel, before acting on any unusual request received by phone, text, or video.
Know when and how to report a suspected incident, including the internal reporting steps for a suspected AI enabled impersonation attempt and where to escalate externally, such as an agency security office or IC3.gov.
Test their own detection skills in a live comparison of authentic and AI generated audio and video, and see firsthand how difficult, and how learnable, reliable detection can be.

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