Greg's Corner

Campaign robocalls could be identity thieves

Robocalls are normally illegal in the United States. The exceptions to that law are that charities asking for donations and political campaigns. It’s the latter that we’re concerned about today.

With the 2020 presidential election being so close and so heated, scammers have been using the guise of campaign robocalls to try and steal your financial and personal information.

The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers that scammers are using robocalls that sound like legitimate campaign calls. Some of these calls Re even said to have used recordings that sound almost identical to the voices of major political candidates. The recorded message asks you to donate money to their campaign. If you stay on the line you’ll be transferred to an operator who will take your information.

However, instead of your money going to your candidate of choice, the scammers will take your money and potentially use your personal information for identity theft.

The BBB says that political campaigns will rarely use robocalls to solicit donations. The campaigns mostly use them to ask you to vote for their candidate. If you receive one of these robocalls claiming to be from a politician asking for donations, it’s more than likely a scam according to the BBB.

It’s recommended that you hang up if immediately if you receive one of these calls. The call may ask you to press a number to remove your number from their list. Since these are scam calls, pressing 1 will do the exact opposite. It will let the scammers know that your number is an active one and they could try calling you with another scam in the future.

While it’s a good idea to always sign up for the National Do Not Call Registry, please keep in mind that scammers do not abide by the Do Not Call list.