“Vote for me!”
“I am the greatest thing since sliced bread!”
“Please save the USA – contribute to my campaign!!”
Don’t say you weren’t warned, but you better get ready, because we’re about to enter the Twilight Zone of Deep Fake political ads and scams. One like we’ve never seen before because of artificial intelligence (AI).
Now that the U.S. Presidential election is only six weeks away, political parties, political action committees, and scammers are starting to throw everything they can at us to make us buy into what they have to say or try and get us to contribute our hard-earned money to a scam fundraising campaign.
And there’s no escaping it, either. These things will show up in your emails, your texts, on TV, YouTube, and if you can last more than 30 seconds on social media without seeing some of this nonsense, angels must be watching over you.
Phony baloney
This all began back in January when some New Hampshire voters received a robocall that sounded like it came from President Joe Biden. The AI-generated voice told voters to stay away from the polls and not to vote during the primary election, but rather to save their vote until the general election in November. That was then. The situation now is far more aggressive.
Fakes are popping up everywhere these days. Donald Trump has posted fake AI images of Taylor Swift, misleadingly suggesting the singer endorsed him. And tit-for-tat, there've been fake social media posts of actor Ryan Reynolds wearing a pro-Harris t-shirt. That's just two of the countless of the phony posts, photos, and ads circulating on the web.
The BBC reports that Black voters are being targeted by faked AI images created by Trump supporters. Then, there's the fake posts of Kamala Harris hanging out with financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And the Trump campaign recently went after Harris on X with a photo of her speaking at a Communist rally.)
Of course, none of these are real and none of these things ever happened. And it’s easy to be fooled by these things, too.
“Enterprises and political campaigns are increasingly using messaging to reach customers and constituents. While this has improved engagement, it has also made the channel more attractive to scammers,” Clayton LiaBraaten, Senior Executive Advisor, at TrueCaller, told ConsumerAffairs.
“The higher the adoption rate of messaging by legitimate organizations, the more likely consumers are to trust and respond to messages, creating fertile ground for scams.”
Where the Deep Fakes will bite you
There are two kinds of political deep fakes: the kind that create political instability and pose legal and ethical concerns; and, then, there’s the kind that will rip your security and finances to shreds.
“Deep Fake video calls may be used to impersonate people, often with the intent to deceive you into giving away money or sensitive information,” Trend Micros’s Jon Clay told ConsumerAffairs. “Anyone can fall victim to a deep fake scam — and suffer grave consequences like financial fraud and identity theft.”
The scams
On the scam side of things, researchers at Security.org told ConsumerAffairs said that there are four election-oriented scams that you’re likely to see:
Fake donation requests: Scammers posing as representatives from political campaigns, requesting donations via phone calls, emails, or social media messages. Instead, scammers steal the donation for themselves.
Bogus voter registration services: Scammers calling or texting to say they can register you to vote or offer to update your voting information by phone. It was so bad in California that officials had to warn voters to exercise caution regarding these messages.
Fake election surveys: Scammers are conducting fake election polls, offering rewards to get people to participate. But what they really want is personal information, such as Social Security numbers, bank details, or credit card numbers.
Imposter scams: Scammers are also pretending to be election officials or campaign representatives, contacting voters with “problems” about voter registration or absentee ballots. In this sham, all they're after is personal information to "resolve" these issues.
Your safety nets
There’s no way out of this mess – not now, anyway. The government is trying to stop it and technology geniuses are trying to figure a way around it, but don’t count on it happening anytime soon,
What should you do to protect yourself?
With emails and texts, the advice is pretty straightforward: don’t click on anything. This includes voter surveys and polls, which scammers can use to collect personally identifiable information (PII). They may even promise fake rewards or prizes for participation and then ask for a credit card number to process bogus shipping or tax charges. None of that is real; none of what can happen is good.
As far as voice cloning scams are concerned, if someone calls you saying that they’re with the so ‘n so campaign, just hang up. But if you find yourself being sucked in to what the caller is pitching, look for these telltale signs:
An emergency situation.
A sense of urgency for you to act immediately. The scammer doesn’t want to give you time to think.
The conversation may be short, and the caller may say they can’t talk for long.
A request for money in the form of wire transfer, bitcoin, gift cards, payment app, or bank account information.
A request for personal information.
A request to keep the conversation a secret.
An offer that sounds too good to be true.
If you feel a connection to a candidate or a political cause and want to offer support, then donate only through official campaign websites. “Avoid making donations by phone unless you initiate the call,” Clay reminds people.