Voter Beware: Watch Out for Election Season Scams

Fraudsters don’t want your vote. They want your money and personal data

Each election season, bad actors try to take advantage of the fact that people are eager to participate in the democratic process. Fraudsters masquerade as legitimate election-related groups and organizations in order to grab personally identifiable information (PII) for use in identity fraud, or to take money from unsuspecting individuals.

Here are three typical scams that can occur during election season, along with tips on how to avoid getting entrapped in these schemes.

Fake voter registration

If you’re looking to vote for the first time, or you’ve moved and want to update your voter registration with your new address, watch out for scammers pretending to be election officials or volunteers. They might reach out by phone, email, or text and offer to complete or update your registration. They’ll tell you they need personal information like your Social Security number as part of the process. They may even demand a fee for the service.

Even if you’re already registered to vote, you could still fall victim to this scam. The fraudster could contact you and claim that there’s a problem with your registration, adding that you need to confirm your personal information in order to maintain voting eligibility.

Our advice:

• • If someone calls and claims that they can help you register over the phone, hang up. Voter registration is only available online, by mail, or in person at your local election office, depending on your state. (Visit USA.gov to learn more.)

• • If you’re a registered voter, any communications regarding your voting eligibility will come from your state or local election office. Instead of taking a stranger’s word that they’re an election official, go to the website of your state or local election office and contact them directly regarding any registration concerns or questions.

• • Don’t click any email or text links to voter registration forms, as these may be filled with malware or designed to harvest your personal information. Again, go to the website of your state or local election office and start the process there.

• • Know that voter registration is free—no election office will ever ask you to pay a fee.

Fake opinion surveys

In this scam, a fraudster poses as a political volunteer or representative of a polling company. They contact you by phone, email, text, or social media and ask you to participate in a political opinion survey. It’s perfectly normal for a pollster to ask for your political party affiliation or basic demographics like gender, age range, or education level. A scammer, however, may ask for specific personal information such as your name, home address, date of birth, Social Security number, or driver’s license number. None of those things are part of any legitimate opinion survey.

The phony pollster may also offer a high-value gift card or other major prize in exchange for your participation in the survey. However, in order to claim this “prize”—which doesn’t exist—you’ll have to give them your personal data, or provide credit card or banking information to cover taxes or shipping fees.

Our advice:

• • If you’ve been contacted for a phone survey and the caller starts asking you for specific personal or financial information, hang up.

• • If you’ve received a survey link by email, text, or social media, it could be a phishing attempt or a front for malware. Don’t click it unless you can independently verify that the link is safe, and you’re certain the message is coming from a legitimate survey group.

• • Know that no legitimate survey company will demand personal or financial information in exchange for a participation prize or reward. If you’re asked for this information, end the conversation.

Fake donation requests

Political action committees (PACs) control much of the fundraising operations for candidates and political parties, so it’s not uncommon to be contacted by a PAC via phone, text, email, or social media and asked for a donation. But be aware that some cybercriminals will set up fake PACs or pose as real ones in order to steal your money or personal information. They’ll use high-pressure tactics urging you to donate to the cause, when in fact they’re looking to rip you off.

A related problem that’s popped up recently is the use of AI to create “deepfake” robocalls that sound like the voice of a real politician or celebrity. While many of these deceptive calls are primarily meant to spread misinformation, some may urge you to make a political donation by pressing a button on your phone for connection to a representative. These operations are often fraudulent and designed to steal your money or personal information.

Our advice:

• • If a PAC has contacted you by phone, don’t give out your personal or financial information, and don’t get pressured into donating on the spot.

• • Do an online search of the PAC. Is it registered with the Federal Election Commission? (Search here; if the name doesn’t appear, it’s not a legal entity.) Does its website provide contact information? Does it seem to be active on social media and elsewhere? If the PAC is legitimate, donate through its official site.

• • If you get a text, email, or social media direct message from a PAC, don’t click any links, as they may be phishing attempts or designed to install malware. Instead, check the name of the organization and go through the process described above.

• • If you get a fundraising robocall that’s supposedly from a celebrity or politician, ignore it. If you want to donate directly to a candidate, go to their official campaign website.

If you’ve been victimized by any of these election-related scams, take steps to limit the damage. Monitor your credit by getting a free credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com. Visit IdentityTheft.gov to create an identity recovery plan. For comprehensive protection, consider the IDX Complete Plan, which includes credit monitoring, free credit reports, access to IDX’s dedicated identity recovery experts, and a 100% identity recovery money-back guarantee.

Finally, be sure to report any election-related fraud to your state or local election officials—it’s good citizenship to help prevent similar fraud from happening to others in your community.