Scammers are using artificial intelligence to produce realistic voices, images and messages that impersonate candidates, campaigns and government agencies as they try to profit from the 2026 midterm elections, the FBI warned Thursday in a public service announcement. For campaigns, political committees and the vendors that serve them, the alert signals that their names and likenesses are being turned against their own donors and voters less than three weeks before the Nov. 3 vote.

What Happened

The alert, “Scammers Exploit 2026 U.S. Midterm Election to Perpetrate Multiple Fraud Schemes,” updates a version the FBI issued Oct. 29, 2024, before the last general election. It says fraudsters borrow candidates' names, images, logos and slogans to collect fake contributions, sell goods that never arrive or steal personal information, and notes that similar schemes have hit state and local races. Scammers “exploit artificial intelligence (AI) tools to generate highly realistic voices, images, and written messages,” the bureau wrote, adding that this makes the schemes harder to detect.

The FBI described four schemes:

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  • Campaign investment pools, which promise guaranteed returns paid out once a candidate wins and urge victims to recruit others.
  • “ScamPACs,” fake political action committees, super PACs or campaign committees that keep the money donors think they are giving to a cause.
  • Merchandise fraud, in which political goods are sold and never delivered.
  • Voter-registration lures, texts or emails falsely claiming the recipient is not registered and linking to a fake state page that harvests personal data.

The FBI advised the public to treat unsolicited calls, texts and emails with caution, noting that campaign donations are not investments and are not refunded. It recommended checking a committee's registration and financial filings on the Federal Election Commission website, where unusually high fundraising, consulting or administrative spending can be a warning sign, and confirming registration status at vote.gov. Victims can report to a local FBI field office or to the bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.

The same day, the FBI issued two companion alerts. One warns of threats to election workers, a group it defines broadly to include officials, staff, volunteers, contractors and vendors. The other lists federal election crimes voters should report, among them false information about when, where or how to vote and contributions from foreign or other prohibited sources.

Why It Matters

Cheap voice and image cloning removes a check that donors and voters have long relied on: recognizing a familiar voice or face. A convincing fake appeal in a candidate’s voice can cost donors money and erode trust in genuine fundraising. Campaigns, committees and platforms have an interest in publishing their official donation channels clearly so supporters can tell real appeals from imitations.

For companies, the election-worker alert is a reminder that the FBI counts contractors and vendors supporting election offices among potential targets of threats, which bears on their security planning and staff protection. The warnings also arrive as federal capacity to counter election interference is thinning: state officials and researchers have described fewer federal briefings and contacts, as The Primary Wire reported Wednesday.

What to Watch

Watch for further FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency advisories as Nov. 3 approaches, and for platform takedown reports. Help Net Security, covering the alert, also reported that X said in a post that it had suspended more than 13,000 accounts tied to three suspected influence operations linked to Iran, Russia and China that targeted U.S. political discussion; The Primary Wire has not independently confirmed that figure.