Better Business Bureau warns of election scams

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – Election day is less than a week away and you may notice your phone filling up with text messages urging you to donate to a political candidate or even check your voter registration status.

Experts warn that many of these could be scams, trying to steal your personal information.

Experts with the Better Business Bureau said scammers prey on emotion. The more people are invested in an election and want to be heard, scammers will in turn use that desire to build trust. During this campaign season many of those scams are coming in the form of a text message.

WAVE 3 interviewed several voters in line at the Clark County Judicial Center on Wednesday and many of them said they’d gotten a text with a suspicious link all of them had said they ignore those.

“It could very well lead you to a false website and ask for your personal information that you would just be giving to a con artist and asking to steal your identity,” Heather Clary with the BBB said.

The BBB said there’s lots of legitimate campaign messaging or surveys going around, but where things can take a turn is if someone is asking for information that goes deeper than your name or political affiliation or if pollsters are offering you a prize for completing a survey, which doesn’t happen.

“If they start to ask for information like your date of birth or your social security number you can be pretty sure that that is a scam and you do not want to engage with those sort of people,” Clary said.

Clary said scammers want to get their hands on that information to do things like take out a credit card in your name or a loan.

If you’re wanting to make a political donation it’s best to go directly to that candidates website.

In the age of instant messaging and social media, one concern is those less savvy falling prey for a scam.

“There‘s been times where my dad, you know, on Facebook has gotten scammed,” Breanna Frazier, a voter, said. “I try to kind of be like ‘hey don’t click on that or just ask me if it’s legit or not before you do those things.’”

The BBB said it’s best to talk to your loved ones, and when in doubt trust your gut.

If you notice a scam, you can report it to the BBB scam tracker.

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