Greg's Corner

Robocallers are posing as campaigns to trick you

With the primary elections in full gear, you might receive phone calls from various candidates running for office. Whether it’s a local, state, or national election many politicians will be looking for your vote or possibly a donation to their campaign. Many of these calls may be automated and may even have the candidate themselves delivering a recorded message. As you can probably guess, not all of these calls are legitimate. Scammers are said to be posing as various political campaigns in order to take your money or your personal information.

The scammers are using robocalls while posing as various campaigns or causes. They’ll have automated messages that may even use recordings of the actual candidates. They’ll then try soliciting you for money in the guise of supporting a candidate. Instead, the money is going to scammers and they may ask not only for your financial information but your personal information for possible identity theft. They’ll also try to use high-pressure tactics to get you to ‘donate’.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk8UvO_s1LA%5D

The Better Business Bureau suggests signing up for the National Do Not Call Registry to cut down on the number of robocalls you receive. However, not only are political campaign calls exempt from the Do Not Call List, but scammers don’t abide by the list as it is. The best ways to handle these calls are to either let the call go to voicemail if you don’t recognize the number or hang up immediately if it’s a robocall. If you feel passionate about a certain candidate or cause, the best way to support them is directly through their websites. A quick web search should be able to get you to the official website of the candidate you’d like to support.