Scammers are using the 2026 midterm elections as bait, and the FBI wants voters and donors to notice before November 3. In a public service announcement dated October 15, 2026, the bureau warned that criminals are running financial fraud schemes built around the races, about three weeks before Americans vote. The FBI midterm election scam warning centers on candidates' names, logos and voices, which scammers borrow to pull money and personal data from people who trust them.
USA 24 could not open the PSA on ic3.gov, so the details below come from secondary coverage. Help Net Security quoted the opening line of the alert, which says the FBI "warns the public that scammers could exploit the 2026 US Midterm Election to perpetrate financial fraud schemes." The same report says the alert updates a similar warning the FBI issued before the 2024 general election.
What the FBI says scammers are doing
The PSA was filed through the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, and it does not name a victim or attach a dollar loss figure, according to Tech-Insider. The Register reported that the bureau says scammers use candidates' names, images, logos and slogans to solicit campaign contributions, sell merchandise that is never delivered, or steal personally identifiable information.
That gap matters. The alert describes a pattern of tactics, not a measured wave of theft, and no midterm-specific loss total appears in the sources reviewed for this story. Readers should treat the warning as a risk alert rather than a damage report. Tech-Insider also noted that election coverage has focused on voting-machine integrity and foreign interference, while this PSA addresses everyday financial fraud that uses the election as a hook.
FBI midterm election scam tactics to watch
The reported formats include fake PACs, campaign "investment" pools and phony voter-registration pages that harvest personal data. Both Help Net Security and Tech-Insider describe these formats in their coverage of the alert. The main ones are:
- Fake PACs that borrow a realistic-sounding name or a candidate's logo to take donations.
- Campaign "investment" pools that ask for money in a candidate's name.
- Phony voter-registration pages that collect personal data.
- Fake campaign merchandise that is paid for and never delivered.
Each format borrows something voters already trust, whether that is a candidate's face, a familiar logo or a routine civic task. Help Net Security reported that campaign staff, PACs and election officials may also see their names and logos used in impersonation. That means the people running campaigns can be targets as well as the voters they hope to reach.
The playbook is familiar. USA 24 has reported on fake Microsoft security alerts that spread through 20,000 Cloudflare Pages domains, another case where a recognizable brand gave a scam its credibility. Election season adds a deadline and a sense of civic duty, which can make a rushed decision feel responsible rather than risky.
How AI voice cloning raises the stakes
The alert puts artificial intelligence at the center of the warning. Help Net Security reported that the FBI says fraudsters use AI tools to produce convincing voices, images and written messages that impersonate candidates, campaigns, government entities and trusted people. Its headline describes scammers cloning candidates' voices to steal cash and voter data.
That changes the old advice. Typos and clumsy phrasing were once the easiest warning signs for a phony message. A voice that sounds like a candidate, or a polished image that appears to show a campaign event, removes that signal. Voters now need to check where a message came from and how a request is made, not just how it reads or sounds.
The gains are easy to identify. Scammers get cheap ways to borrow trust at scale, while the candidates, campaigns and voters whose identities are used absorb the reputational and financial costs.
The separate impersonation warning and its $1.6 billion figure
Earlier in October, the FBI warned about criminals who disguise calls with real agency phone numbers and use real agents' names, according to Yahoo Finance. That coverage reported victims in New Jersey. The tactic resembles the midterm scams in one important way: it relies on a name and number that a target already has reason to trust.
A second warning is easy to confuse with the midterm alert. WiseVoter reported a national FBI warning from around October 14 about impersonation of law enforcement and government officials. That report cited more than $1.6 billion in reported losses and nearly 61,000 IC3 complaints from January 2025 through July 2026.
Those figures come from a single outlet and have not been checked against the FBI's own release. Treat them as unconfirmed until the bureau publishes them. The election PSA does not carry those numbers, and readers should not assume the two alerts share a dollar total.
How to avoid donation and voter-registration scams
Use these habits before you give money or personal data.
- Donate only through an official campaign website or a verified committee page.
- Verify your voter-registration status only through your official state election website.
- Treat urgent texts, calls or emails claiming to be officials as suspect, and call back using a number you look up yourself.
- Never send money or personal data to someone who says you are not registered.
The first two steps reflect the FBI's framing. The last two are general guidance, not verbatim FBI language, but they match the pattern the agency describes.
Personal data is often the real prize. A stolen name or address can fuel later fraud long after a donation request fails. USA 24 has covered a California breach at ETS that exposed millions of student records, a reminder that personal information often sits in places people never expect to be exposed.
What to watch before November 3
Three things will show how serious this becomes. First, whether the FBI posts the full PSA on ic3.gov, since the text reviewed here came through secondary coverage. Second, whether any state election office or campaign publicly reports a fake registration page or impersonation. Coverage so far does not name a specific campaign or state office as a target.
Third, watch whether IC3 publishes complaint counts tied specifically to midterm scams. Those numbers would show whether this is a niche problem or a broad one, and they would give reporters a baseline the current coverage lacks.
Voters have about three weeks. Expect more alerts as Election Day approaches, and expect scammers to adopt whatever convincing tool is easiest to get. The safest habit stays simple: go to the official source yourself, and never let an incoming message decide where your money or data goes.
