How to Avoid Common Election Scams

With less than 60 days left until Election Day, the digital landscape has become a battleground not just for votes but for your personal security. With political ads, fake voter registration sites, and disinformation campaigns cropping up everywhere, it’s essential to stay vigilant against common election scams and election manipulation schemes. Here’s how you can navigate this crucial time safely.

Understanding Misinformation vs. Disinformation

Before diving into specific scams, it’s important to differentiate between misinformation and disinformation. Misinformation refers to false or misleading information shared without malicious intent, often due to ignorance or misunderstanding. Disinformation, on the other hand, is deliberately false or misleading information spread with the intent to deceive, manipulate, or sway public opinion.

Knowing the difference is crucial because it influences how you approach and verify the information you encounter. Disinformation campaigns are often more sophisticated and can be more challenging to detect, making it essential to keep a healthy dose of skepticism while navigating this election season.

Spotting Fake Voter Registration Sites

One prevalent scam during election season is fake voter registration websites. These sites may look official but are designed to steal your personal information. They often appear as pop-ups or ads on social media and search engines.

To protect yourself:

1. Verify URLs: Always check the web address. Official voter registration sites will have a .gov domain or be clearly linked from official government websites.
2. Register Directly: Instead of clicking on links, navigate directly to your state’s official election website to begin the registration process. A nonpartisan site like Vote.org can help you easily figure out how to register to vote in your state.

Avoiding Donation Scams

When you’re excited about a political candidate, it’s natural to want to support their campaign by sending them a donation. Scammers prey on that excitement by creating fake donation websites to try to take money from unsuspecting individuals. TikTok banned requests for political donations on their platform because of the prevalence of these types of scams.

To avoid sending money to scammers:

1. Use Official Platforms: Donations to Democratic candidates typically go through the online fundraising platform ActBlue and Republication donations go through WinRed. That’s because there are specific donor verification requirements that candidates must follow in order to comply with campaign finance laws. Beware of any political donation website that is not using these platforms.
2. Avoid Informal Channels: Avoid sending donations or personal information through informal communication channels like WhatsApp.

Identifying Misleading Political Ads

Political ads are ubiquitous during election season, with political ad spending projected to be $10.2 billion in 2024. But not all political ads are created equal. Misleading or false ads can be crafted to manipulate voters by presenting distorted facts or outright lies.

To discern the truth:

1. Check Sources: Look for the source of the information presented in the ad. Reputable ads usually cite credible sources.
2. Cross-Check Information: Verify the claims made in ads with multiple trusted news outlets. If the information is true, it should be corroborated across various sources.
3. Beware of Emotional Appeals: Ads that heavily appeal to emotion rather than fact are often designed to bypass rational analysis and provoke an immediate reaction.

Navigating Social Media and Disinformation Campaigns

Social media is a double-edged sword during elections. While it offers a platform for legitimate discourse, it’s also a breeding ground for disinformation. Social media amplifies both credible information and disinformation due to its algorithms prioritizing engagement over accuracy, making sensational or misleading content more likely to be seen and shared. The anonymity and ease of content creation on these platforms enable the rapid spread of false narratives, which can be difficult to counteract amidst the sheer volume of information circulating.

You might encounter false content designed to manipulate voter perceptions. To navigate this:

1. Validate Sources: If you come across shocking or dubious claims, validate them through reliable fact-checking sites such as FactCheck.org.
2. Engage with Caution: Avoid sharing or engaging with content that hasn’t been verified. Engaging with such content, even by commenting to try to fact-check it, can inadvertently spread misinformation.

Beware of Deepfakes

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have led to easily created realistic deepfakes—manipulated videos or images that can spread false narratives. Earlier this year, a fake robocall using AI voice-cloning technologies tried to influence voters in the New Hampshire primary.

Our mission is to help you navigate these challenges effectively. For decades, McAfee has stood as a reliable source of information and guidance. This election season, we are helping to discern what is real versus what is fake through our new Deepfake Detector, the world’s first automatic and AI-powered deepfake detector. Trained on close to 200,000 samples and counting, Deepfake Detector can identify and alert consumers within seconds of AI-altered audio being detected in videos.

To detect deepfakes on your own:

1. Scrutinize the Details: AI-generated videos often have small inconsistencies when trying to portray humans. Is there unnatural blinking, odd eye movements, or unusual-looking hands or teeth? Does the audio not quite match the speaker’s lips or have a distorted quality?
2. Use Your Judgment: If someone is saying or promoting something unexpected via video or audio, pause and question whether it’s One deepfake earlier this year had an AI version of Taylor Swift promising to send Swifties a free Dutch oven. Fans of Taylor Swift could avoid this scam by realizing that such a promotion would be highly out of character for their favorite singer, who is not known for promoting products in this way, and by checking her official channels to see if she had said anything about the promotion there.

By understanding the types of scams and misinformation that proliferate during election season and implementing these practical tips, you can confidently and securely engage in the democratic process. Protecting your personal information and making informed decisions is not just about securing your vote—it’s about safeguarding the integrity of your digital presence and ensuring that your voice is heard clearly and accurately.

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