CyberSecurity Source | Summer 2024

These types of scams often involve links to fake voter registration forms, which criminals send by phone, email or text. While they may look legitimate at first glance, these forms are often phishing scams used to collect your personal data or to allow others to access your personal devices.

Ways to protect yourself:

• If someone claims you’re not registered to vote and offers to register you by phone, hang up. You cannot register by phone, email or text. In all 50 states, you can only register to vote online, by mail, or in person at a local election office.
• The safest option is to register at a government location or by mail. If you do register online, do not use unverified links.
• Voter registration drives often occur at events such as outdoor gatherings and farmers markets, and sometimes the filled-out forms are left on tables where anyone can see them, the Identity Theft Resource Center warns. While the intention may be harmless, a better option is to take a form, fill it out, and mail it or deliver it in person to an election office.

Cybercriminals also use fake audio to request campaign contributions. In some cases, a supposed candidate may ask for a donation and tell you to push a number on your phone, which directs you to a representative. You may also receive emails or texts with donation links; as with fraudulent voter registration links, donation links could also be phishing scams. Some requests come from fake political action committees (PACs), defined by the FBI as “fraudulent political action committees designed to reroute political contributions for personal gain.” They frequently seem credible and often employ high-pressure, emotional appeals.

Ways to protect yourself:

• If you want to donate to candidates, go to their certified site.
• Don’t rely on caller ID: Scammers can impersonate a political campaign phone number through a tactic known as spoofing.
• Another reason to not answer calls: Cybercriminals only need a few seconds to record your voice and use AI to create a dialogue that could evade authentications with your financial institution or credit card company.
• Visit the Federal Election Commission’s website and search to see if a PAC is registered. If it’s not, it’s not legal.

The process often seems simple; someone contacts you by phone, email, text or in person to answer a few questions. Or you might receive an urgent email, often featuring a recognizable politician, asking you to sign a petition and make a small contribution. The problem, however, is when you’re asked to provide personal information, such as your birth date and email address. Some scammers may offer a gift card or other prize as an incentive to participate in the survey, and then request your Social Security number, home address, and financial info under the guise of covering taxes and shipping costs for your prize.

Ways to protect yourself:

• A legitimate survey may ask how you plan to vote along with your political affiliation, and surveyors may request demographic information, such as age. This is to be expected, but don’t share more specific information. Age is one thing, but your birth date gives scammers better access to your data and money. Decline to provide your name, address, email address, Social Security number or driver’s license number.
• As with other election scams, don’t click on survey links from unsolicited emails and texts.
• If someone conducting a survey or poll offers a prize, don’t participate. “Real political polls rarely offer prizes for participation and none would ask for a credit card number,” ID Watchdog states.