Election season is officially in high gear, and scammers are wasting no time going after voters. The FBI just dropped a major warning pointing out how fraudsters are using everything from AI deepfakes to fake donation sites to snatch cash and personal details ahead of the midterms.

How AI deepfakes and fake campaign pools work

Cybercriminals are leaning heavily into generative AI, making candidate images and voice clones look shockingly real. One strange trap gaining traction is the “campaign investment pool” scheme. Scammers pitch this as a collective fund where you donate money today and supposedly get a cash payout if your preferred candidate wins. The FBI made sure to remind everyone that real political campaigns never offer financial returns, so any promise of profit is a dead giveaway for fraud.

Fake PACs and phantom merchandise online

Fraudsters are also setting up fake Political Action Committees, or PACs, to trick supporters into giving money. Instead of handing those donations to a campaign, the scammers just stash the cash in their own pockets. Others are running fake web stores selling campaign hats, t-shirts, and lawn signs that never actually ship after you pay. According to recent data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, these non-delivery scams remain one of the most common web cons in the country. To avoid getting burned, always check official election commission records before donating to any PAC (via The Register).

Text message phishing exploits real news — Foreign interference and social media

Phishing text messages are another big headache right now. Scammers send mass texts warning that your voter registration is incomplete or about to expire, urging you to tap a link to fix it. These messages hijack local headlines to make them sound legit. In Texas, for example, technical glitches created a temporary application backlog that made it easier for scammers to easily prey on voter anxiety and tempt people to give up private information.

On top of financial scams, foreign influence campaigns are pushing out misleading political content on social media. X, like other platforms, recently banned more than 13,000 accounts linked to foreign operations out of Iran, Russia and China that were designed to spread misinformation and sow division among voters. The best way to protect yourself from financial fraud and online misinformation this season is to stay on official election websites.

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