Have you received any requests for political donations? They are prevalent at this time of year. If so, always be very careful that they are not a scam.
You might want to donate to the candidates you support or fund the causes that are in line with your beliefs, but it's important to be always aware that many of these donation solicitations are scams.
If you do want to donate - follow these practical steps from Lifehacker:
Never click on any link sent to you (via email, text, or social media). If you’re persuaded by the messaging, look up the official campaign site or political action committee (PAC) you want to donate to.
Always research any organization or PAC before you give them money—the Federal Election Commission (FEC) maintains a list of registered PACs. If it’s not on the list, don’t donate.
Never give in to pressure on the phone—there’s no reason you need to donate by giving out your credit card information right then and there. Just tell the person you’re convinced and you’ll donate via the website.
Always use a credit card—never send a check or use a debit card. Credit cards have robust protections against scams, and shady PACs sometimes urge you to send a check because it’s so much harder to stop payment and claw your money back.
Signs to look out for -
If it involves TikTok
If you’re being solicited for political donations on TikTok, or being directed to a TikTok account for donation information, it’s a scam.
TikTok banned all political fundraising a few years ago, and has some pretty strict rules around political content in general. That means that just seeing TikTok somewhere in the process is a tipoff that someone is either looking to scam you, or at the very least trying to run under the radar.
They request personal data
If the text, email, or phone caller wants your personal information (address, etc.), they’re probably more about identity theft or selling your information to marketers than the political cause. All anyone needs to take your donation is your credit card info and your name.
There's no employment confirmation
If it’s a PAC asking for a donation, the one question they must ask you is who your employer is. That’s because legitimate PACs are forbidden by law from accepting money from federal contractors and foreign nationals, so it’s necessary for them to make sure you’re neither before they accept your money. That means if they don’t ask this question, you’re probably dealing with a scammer who does not care.
The financials are bad
If you’re thinking about donating to a PAC because they seem to support issues that you support, you should check them out before doing anything.
Start with the FEC list mentioned above to make sure it’s a legitimate, registered organization. But you should also look up the PAC and visit the website the committee has set up
Open Secrets has a search page where you can find a lot of information about PACs.
If you can’t identify anyone or there’s no contact information, it might be better to skip the donation and direct your cash elsewhere.
You should easily find a list of the people in charge and financial information, including a breakdown of how much of the money they raise.
They request nonstandard payments
Any political donation request that wants a non-standard form of payment is a scam.
All legitimate campaigns and PACs accept credit cards.
Again, if you want to donate, just be sure that it is not a scam and follow these practical steps above.