South Snohomish County Crime Watch Hot Sheet: SCAM PACS – Fraudsters Take Advantage of Election Build Up

With the 2024 election campaigns in full gear, as usual, scammers find a way to take advantage of the situation to skim off some cash for themselves.

Election campaigns can be high energy and emotional, especially in this era of polarized politics. Scammers are adept at quickly establishing their false credentials to appeal for financial help, as in charity scams, for a worthy cause whipping up their victims’ emotions to pay right away because the cause needs their help now.

Scammers have migrated the charity scam model to elections by claiming to be a Political Action Committee (PAC) backing or opposing a candidate or cause. Legitimate PAC’s back candidates or causes spending no more than 25% of their donations on fund raising and administrative costs with the rest going to advertising and other techniques that promote their candidate or cause.

Scam PACs find ways to mask the pocketing of their donations to the organizers by distributing the funds to vendors which are owned by the organizers. And often, Scam PACs spend more than 25% of their donations on fund raising and administrative costs.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulates PACs supporting or working to defeat candidates for federal office. In Washington State, the Public Disclosure Commission (PDA) regulates candidate committees, political committees, lobbyists, and lobbyist employers. Scam PACs may or may not register with the FEC and/or the PDC. Those that do not are obviously PACs to stay away from Those that do, may give an indication in their financial filings that they may be not as legitimate or as efficient in their operations as they would like you to think they are.

Verify. Like with charities, if you feel motivated to donate to a PAC take a deep breath and verify that the PAC is legitimate before you send money. Make sure the PAC is registered with the FEC or the PDA. If they are, take a look at their financial filings and see where they spend their money. Is more than 25% going to administrative costs? See who the PAC uses for vendors. Are the vendor’s registration addresses the same as for the PAC? If so, then the PAC may be a scam. Check the PAC’s website. Legitimate PACs should have one. Check for the person who heads the PAC. Websites that do not have the names and contact information of people running the PAC or the contact information for the PAC may be a scam. Check the contact phone number for the PAC. Is it in service? If not, it may be a scam. Look up PACs at,

Federal Election Commission: https://www.fec.gov/

Public Disclosure Commission: https://www.pdc.wa.gov/

Open Secrets: https://www.opensecrets.org/

Emotion. We have strong emotions about our politics during this election campaign. Scammers know how to play on our emotions to get us to act without thinking. And they will put the pressure on to act now, without doing your research.

Name confusion. While PACs can be associated with legitimate nonprofit organizations and campaigns, scam PACs may have names that closely mimic ongoing candidate political campaigns or ongoing issue campaigns. All the more reason to research the PAC to determine its legitimacy.

Phishing attempts. Scam PACs use similar methods to contact potential donors as legitimate political campaigns and a wide variety of scam efforts. If you receive an email or text message that purports to represent a candidate or a PAC, be careful of any links that may be embedded in the message. Don’t click on the link. Find the PAC’s website with a web search or look it up on the FEC website or the PDA website. If you get a phone call, don’t call the call back phone number. Look it up on a web search.

Election cybersecurity tips. Scammers can pretend to be pollsters. Some tricks that scam pollsters use include prizes to encourage completing surveys, ask for personal information such as birth dates, social security numbers, or financial information, information legitimate pollsters do not need.

Voter registration. Registering to vote is an important part of the election process. Sometimes scammers will call and offer voter registration. No state offers voter registration by phone! To learn about how to register to vote in Washington State check out this link at the Secretary of State’s website- https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections#voters

For more information about Scam PACs and more tips to avoid being victimized by Scam PACs checkout the following links.