If there's any way to steal cash out of your pocket, believe me, scammers will find it.
November's contentious midterm election is providing one more avenue — much like all those scams we see in the holiday shopping season — for the crooks to say gotcha.
The FBI is warning that scammers are tapping into multiple financial fraud schemes to exploit the 2026 election season, including promising to sell T-shirts and lawn signs that they will never deliver.
"Scammers claim to sell political merchandise but do not ship the purchase when ordered. This is a classic 'non-shipment scam' or 'non-delivery fraud' scheme," according to an alert in October from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Other schemes detailed in the alert are even more bizarre, such
as a "campaign investment pool scheme" that sounds worse than an NCAA Bracket for March Madness.
Sure, you might think you know how things will play out Nov. 3. But, really, will they turn out that way?
So, why would you believe a scammer promising "a guaranteed return on campaign contribution dollars" if you put money in a candidate campaign pool that supposedly pays out after the candidate wins?
"Victims are also encouraged to recruit others to invest in the pool to increase their share of the payout," according to the FBI warning.
You've got to love this FBI tip: "Campaign donations are not an investment and will not increase in value nor be returned."
Unfortunately, the pitches appear quite real, as scammers now exploit artificial intelligence tools to generate what the FBI says are "highly realistic voices, images, and written messages that impersonate candidates, campaigns, government entities, and trusted contacts."
The more realistic the post on social media, the more likely you could believe it's true and ultimately lose money or hand over personal information.
You might think you're doing good when you're only being duped.
Each holiday season, we're warned about scammers impersonating well-known or popular charities.
The Federal Trade Commission warned on Monday, Oct. 26, about scams that can make you believe that you won a charity-sponsored sweepstakes because you’ve donated to that charity.
What do the crooks want? Oh, before you can collect that prize, you'd need to pay some fee or give over your Social Security number or other personal information.
The FTC's advice: "Never pay to get your prize. If you do, you’ll end up losing your money … and get even more calls, mail, and spam about sweepstakes."
The election season twist is a scam that impersonates a legitimate political action committee or candidate's campaign committee. The FBI warns that the scammers have no affiliation with the PAC and keep the money.
Another dreadful election season scam: the fake text message about how you're not registered to vote. Yep, it includes a convenient link to click on.
The FBI warns that scammers are sending victims a "text message or email stating they are not registered to vote in their state and are encouraged to click a link that takes the victim to a fraudulent state voter registration page."
If you rush to fill out the form, the fraudsters now have stolen your personal information, which enables crooks to engage in identity theft and potentially target you with other fraud schemes.
The FBI's tip: You can check your voter registration at www.vote.gov where you'd click on a link for your state.
Contact personal finance columnist Susan Tompor: stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on X @tompor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: FBI warns of 2026 election scams targeting voters' money
