As Election Day approaches, scammers are finding new ways to deceive voters. Several media reports are highlighting a new scam where people receive a text message falsely claiming they are not yet registered to vote. Election officials are warning Americans to be cautious of these scam messages, as more are expected to circulate in the weeks leading up to the general election.
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Voting day image (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
What you need to know
The local Channel 4 affiliate WDIV in Detroit warned about a new text message wave in late August that could prevent registered voters from casting their ballot. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported a similar incident around the same time, warning Pennsylvanians to be wary of potential scam text messages targeting voters.
A spokesperson for the Department of State said voters should expect more of these messages to be sent in the weeks leading up to the general election.
“Voters should be aware that opportunistic bad actors may attempt to use this campaign season to send phishing or smishing emails/texts,” Matt Heckel, a spokesperson for the department, told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Both these reports and several others refer to a text message that is linked to the site all-vote.com: “We have you in our records as not registered to vote. Check your registration status and register in 2 minutes.”
A woman voting (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
DON’T FALL PREY TO THIS ELECTION SEASON’S CRAFTIEST SCAMS
How do you know if the text is a scam?
For one, the domain all-vote.com isn’t associated with the government. Another clue is that even people who were already registered to vote in their state received this message. WDIV even interviewed a seventh-grader from Canada who said he also got the text, despite not being eligible to vote.
A quick search on Who.Is lookup shows the domain was registered on July 10, 2024, definitely a red flag. KrebsOnSecurity mentioned that some of these texts are also linking to another domain, votewin.org, which asks for your name, address, email, date of birth and phone number when you visit.
They even pre-check boxes to sign you up for more notifications. The government doesn’t need all that info from you. To register to vote or to update your voter registration, all you need to do is visit vote.gov and select your state or region.
Vote buttons (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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