How Colorado voters can stay savvy to election and voter registration scams

DENVER (KDVR) — The Federal Trade Commission is warning consumers about election and voter registration scams ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Scammers are hoping to cash in on those eager to make their voices heard using calls, texts and emails with fake voter registration reminders to phony polls on social media.

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there, there’s a lot of AI that’s out there on Facebook (and) on social media if there’s any question whatsoever about the election you can hit us up, denvervotes.org,” Denver City and County Clerk and Recorder Paul Lopez told FOX31.

The Problem Solvers asked cybersecurity expert Pete Nicoletti, a member of the FBI and Secret Service Cybersecurity Task Force and Check Point Global Chief Information Security Officer about the most common scams.

He warns that many plots to steal money and personal information involve tactics used to prey upon those who are emotional about political issues and make regular posts on social media.

“These artificial intelligence engines, and because there have been so many breaches, hackers know a lot about us so they can prey upon what is important to us, whether I’m a Corvette collector or I contribute to the Republicans or the Democrats,” Nicoletti told FOX31.

New technology is allowing global scam operations to rake in millions of dollars. Nicoletti cited one example of a fake Zoom meeting designed to steal from the CEO of a company.

“Just earlier this year we had a fake Zoom call where everybody was recorded fake except the one person who transferred $24 million,” he said.

Nicoletti advises anyone conducting business via Zoom to ask the other participants to simply turn their heads to prove they are “real."

Artificial intelligence and other tools are making it tougher to spot so-called deepfakes, which are very real-looking phony videos.

“You used to be able to look at light sources (and) count fingers and look at the context of the picture but that’s not true anymore we live now in a post-real society, almost anything can be fake,” he said.

The FTC recommends that anyone who receives unsolicited texts and emails asking for personal information, especially social security numbers, delete the messages. Never click links.

“Any time they ask for any kind of personal information that’s a red flag and you want to drop that you want to block that number,” said Nicoletti.

Scammers also use fake caller ID numbers.

Others may launch a campaign to spread false information about issues or the voting process. Lopez reminds voters with questions to visit a credible information source on their own to fact-check information and contact the Elections Division with any questions about ballots or registration.

The FTC reminds voters that legitimate voter registration drives will never ask you to provide your financial information. Scams can be reported at ftc.gov/idtheft where your report will be shared with more than 2,800 law enforcers.