Mid-term elections are coming up and if your mailbox isn’t full of flyers or your phone isn’t ringing relentlessly with pleas to vote for the ‘right’ candidate, don’t worry, somewhere out there scammers are scheming to take advantage of whatever is in the news or being chatted about on social media.
The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers that the upcoming mid-term elections are likely to generate loads of fraudsters pretending to be pollsters, campaign volunteers, fundraisers, and even candidates. Here are some common political scams and frauds to watch out for.
Fundraising: beware of phone calls from someone claiming to represent a political candidate, raising money to support the campaign. They may be collecting funds for a specific cause, such as health care reform, or on behalf of a group of people, such as veterans. The caller is typically pushy and demands immediate action for money. Even if the caller is not a scammer, some groups may be poorly managed and not actually spend the money the way they describe on the phone.
Polling: The call comes from someone claiming to be conducting a political survey. The pollster wants to ask a few questions about the upcoming election and in exchange for a few minutes of your time, you will receive a gift card or other reward. After asking several legitimate-sounding survey questions, the caller typically then asks you to provide a credit card number to pay for the shipping and taxes of the “prize” you’ve won. Legitimate polling companies rarely offer prizes for participating in a survey, and none would ask for a credit card number.
Impersonation: This scam uses real audio clips of politicians’ voices, likely lifted from speeches or media interviews. Digital technology has made these recordings sound very realistic. At some point, the alleged politician will ask for a donation and request that you push a button to be redirected to an agent, who will then collect your credit card information. Since real politicians use pre-recorded calls, it’s challenging to tell which ones are fake.
In all of these cases, sharing personal or financial information can open you up to the risk of fraudulent charges and even future identity theft. Although these examples are primarily telephone scams, fraudsters can use other methods to reach you: mail, email, social media, text, or the front door.
Here are some BBB tips to avoid political scams:
Donate directly to the campaign office: Donations made over the phone can be valid but confirm the donation is going directly to the campaign. Rather than making a pressured decision, look up the candidates’ official website or donate directly at a local campaign office.
Watch for spoofed calls: Caller ID, unfortunately, is not necessarily a reliable source. The number on the screen may say that someone from Washington DC or from a campaign office is contacting you, but scammers can fake this using phone number spoofing technology.
Beware of prize offers: Political pollsters claiming that you can win a prize for participating in a survey are making a promise they can’t keep. Simply hang up or don’t answer the call.
Refuse to give personal or banking information: Political pollsters may ask for information about your vote or political affiliation, and even demographic information such as your age or race, but they don’t need your Social Security number or credit card information. Ever.
Research fundraising organizations before donating: Be especially cautious of links that come to you through email or social media, and don’t click through. Instead, go directly to an organization’s website by typing the URL in your browser or using a search engine.
Exercise your right to vote this mid-term election and be wary of the campaign tactics used by potential frauds. Find resources and tips on bbb.org and bbb.org/scamtips. If you’ve been targeted by this scam, help others avoid the same problem by reporting your experience at scamtracker.org.
Sandra Guile is the Community Outreach Specialist for BBB. She promotes BBB’s message of marketplace ethics through public speaking engagements, presentations, media relations, press releases, web content, and other written materials.
