Scammers targeting supporters looking to donate to presidential political campaigns

Money is an important component to any successful political campaign, and supporters are often inundated with emails, texts, mailers and phone calls asking for donations.

A Virginia Tech criminologist warns that voters should be careful where money is sent due to a growing problem with donation scams, particularly on social media.

“During campaign seasons and leading up to the election, we see an increased volume of campaign scams,” said Thomas Dearden, associate professor of sociology in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. “AI has made these more efficient, effective, and convincing.

“Social media is a common avenue for spreading these scams and reaching more potential victims.”

With artificial intelligence, or AI, scams are more sophisticated. It can be difficult to spot a donation scam, but there are usually warning signs.

“AI is used to create fake images, audio and video of political figures. This media is often difficult to distinguish from the real thing,” said Dearden. “Still, there are some warning signs. These include unusual donation methods, such as requesting gift cards, difficulty finding contact information and unsolicited requests.”

The best advice, he said, is to avoid all unsolicited donations and only donate directly to a campaign’s website.

“With the use of AI and the sophistication of many scams, it is often difficult to know if a campaign fund or political action committee is fraudulent just by reviewing their materials,” said Dearden. “While there are clues, the best method is to avoid unsolicited donations entirely. Instead, find the campaign website directly. In addition, if donating to a PAC, the Federal Election Commission keeps a list of all registered PACs on its website. If it is not on the list, do not donate to it.”

If you have been the victim of a scam, you should contact law enforcement.

“For campaign scams, a good resource is your local FBI field office,” said Dearden. “If the fraud took place online or through social media, another good resource is the Internet Crime Complaint Center.”