The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is warning of multiple schemes taking advantage of the upcoming U.S. general election to scam people out of their money or personal data.
The fraudsters exploit the elevated legitimate activity surrounding the elections to scam people by impersonating real candidates and political movements.
In most cases, the goal of these scams is to steal people’s data, money, or both.
“The FBI is warning the public about scammers exploiting the 2024 U.S. General election to perpetrate multiple types of financial fraud schemes,” reads the public service announcement.
“Scammers use the names, images, logos, and slogans of candidates to fraudulently solicit campaign contributions, sell merchandise (which is never sent to the purchaser), or steal victim personally identifiable information (PII) that can be used for other fraud,” adds FBI in the same PSA.
The FBI has highlighted four main types of scams during election periods.
- Investment pool: Victims invest in a “guaranteed” campaign fund that promises a payout after the candidate wins. They’re also encouraged to recruit others to increase their potential earnings.
- Political action committees (PACs): Fraudsters pose as real PACs or campaign committees, tricking victims into making “donations” that the scammers pocket instead.
- Campaign merchandise: Victims are drawn to buy campaign-branded items from deceptive websites, never receiving the products they paid for, and preying on election enthusiasm.
- Voter registration alerts: Victims receive fake alerts to re-register to vote by clicking on the provided link. This leads them to fraudulent sites designed to steal personal information for identity theft or further scams.
Numerous pump-and-dump cryptocurrency scams have also been created recently using themes surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump to push new tokens.
To protect against these scams, treat all unsolicited communications with caution and disbelief, and avoid sharing personal information or sending money to unknown persons.
It is possible to confirm the authenticity of claims of political party affiliation by visiting the Federal Commission (FEC) website.
The FBI notes that donations to political campaigns are never investments, and there can be no positive return from them.
If you receive a fraudulent request, reporting all details to the IC3 quickly is crucial in stopping the scammers and protecting others from falling victims.
