FBI Warns of Increased Fraud Schemes Around US General Election

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a security advisory warning about a surge in fraud schemes revolving around the political frenzy of the general election.

Authorities have spotted threat actors orchestrating numerous malicious campaigns to exploit the heightened election activity and defraud people of their hard-earned money and personal data.

Threat Actors Exploit the US Election in Scam Surge

“The FBI is warning the public about scammers exploiting the 2024 US General election to perpetrate multiple types of financial fraud schemes,” reads the FBI’s announcement. “These scams target victims across the United States and have previously exploited state and local elections for similar scams.”

The announcement further elaborates on how perpetrators exploit legitimate political candidates' names, images, and slogans in their fraudulent schemes, ranging from soliciting fake campaign contributions to selling non-existent merchandise.

Several Different Types of Scams Identified

The most predominant scam types identified by authorities during election periods include:

• Investment Pool Schemes – In this type of scam, con artists entice their victims to invest in a so-called “guaranteed” campaign fund that promises significant returns, provided that the backed candidate wins. Like a typical Ponzi scheme, participants are often urged to recruit others to boost their potential gains.
• Fake Political Action Committees (PACs) – Scammers masquerading as legitimate PACs or campaign committees trick supporters into making fake donations that end up in the perpetrators’ pockets.
• Campaign Merchandise Scams – Con artists use phony websites to lure enthusiasts eager to show their support by purchasing campaign-branded merchandise. In this scenario, victims end up paying for goods that never arrive.
• Fake Voter Registration Alerts – Threat actors send fake alerts to victims, prompting them to re-register to vote by clicking a provided link. As expected, the link redirects them to a fraudulent website designed to steal their personally identifiable information (PII).

Tips on Staying Safe Against Election Scams

The FBI’s announcement includes several tips on keeping safe against scheme frauds revolving around the US General election. These include:

• Exercise caution when receiving any unsolicited message, email, text, survey, or phone call
• Avoid providing your personal information to unknown solicitants
• Don’t interact with unknown links, especially if you receive them from unsolicited sources
• Remember that political campaign donations never act as investments
• Use the official vote.gov website to check your voter registration status
• Research companies online before purchasing campaign merchandise (or other products) by checking them on trusted platforms and looking up customer reviews
• Use the Federal Election Commission (FEC) website to check the registration status of a Political Action or Party Committee

Using Specialized Services Against Scams

Dedicated services like Bitdefender’s Scamio can help you detect and deter scammers by analyzing emails, messages, links, images, and QR codes. It can also detect scam attempts from given scenarios: describe a situation, and Scamio will provide you with an instant assessment of whether it’s a scam.

Scamio is free and available on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and your web browser. You can also help others stay safe by sharing Scamio with them in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Romania, Australia and the UK.