INDIANAPOLIS – On the eve of the 2024 election, the FBI is warning Americans to be on the lookout for scammers who are hoping to take advantage of the last minute excitement.
The FBI recently sent out an alert about four particular scams to be on the lookout for:
– Campaign Investment Pool Scheme. Victims are promised a return on their campaign contribution dollars if they invest in a pool to fund the candidate’s campaign. The pool is guaranteed to grow and be returned to the victims after the candidate wins. Victims are also encouraged to recruit others to invest in the pool to increase their share of the payout.
– Scam Political Action Committees. Victims are contacted by a scammer who misleads the victim to believe the scammer is affiliated with a legitimate Political Action Committee (PAC), such as a Super PAC or candidate’s campaign committee. The victim is duped into believing they are making a legal campaign contribution to a legitimate PAC but instead the scammers keep the funds for themselves and have no affiliation with the specified PAC.
– Merchandise Online Purchase Scam. Victims are enticed to purchase merchandise with the logo of a political candidate though the company is not associated with the political campaign and does not ship the purchased product. This is a classic “non-shipment scam” or “non-delivery fraud” scheme taking advantage of victim’s interest in the 2024 election.
– Scam Voter Registration. Victims receive a text message or email stating they are not registered to vote in their state and encouraging them to click a link that takes the victim to a fraudulent state voter registration page. The victim may or may not already be registered to vote with their state. This scheme is a means to steal PII for identity theft and potentially to further target victims for additional scams.
Keep in mind, the deadline to register to vote in Indiana was back on October 7th, so if you’re not registered by now, it’s too late. If you plan to vote but you’re not sure if you’re registered, you can check your registration status on Indiana’s voter web portal. That is indianavoters.in.gov
In addition, the FBI offers these tips to protect yourself:
- Be cautious when receiving any unsolicited calls, texts, emails, or surveys. Do not provide your personal information to persons you do not know. Do not click on unknown links.
- Donations to a political campaign will not act as an investment; they will not increase in value then be returned to you.
- Check the registration status of a Political Action or Party Committee on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) website. Additional due diligence may be necessary because some scam PACs are known to be registered with the FEC.
- Research a company online before making any purchase by looking up customer reviews and BBB.org complaints.
- Check your voter registration status at www.vote.gov.
