Perhaps none are more persistent than fundraising text messages.
The popularity of texting makes it an effective way for campaigns to get your attention.
And where there’s an effective marketing tactic, there will always be swindlers taking advantage.
A lot of people, understandably, just want tomake the election text messages stop.
But how do you separate legitimate texts from spam texts?
A pushy tone
Your first line of defense against grifters is your intuition and common sense.
Anoverly urgent and pushy textcould also indicate a grift.
“A good faith actor is going to treat you with respect,” said Nellis.
Organizations that just want to trick you into donating money tend to write with less finesse.
Tip: Unlike other scam texts, urgency isn’t always an indicator of a political donation scam.
Legitimate operations may add urgency to fundraising efforts to get you to donate before a specific deadline.
These might feel pushy, but they don’t necessarily point to a scam.
Scroll to the bottom of the page to find “Paid for By” followed by the committee name.
If you don’t see a disclaimer, don’t donate.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s principal campaign committee isHarris for President.Harris Victory FundandHarris Action Fundare affiliated.
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign committee isDonald J. Trump for President 2024. you’re able to vet a committee by checking its official registration.
For federal offices, search a committee name atfec.gov/datato see whether it’s registered with the Federal Election Commission.
For state and local offices, search with your state election commission.
Nellis pointed out it’s surprisingly simple to register a committee and start fundraising.
A URL beginning in “https” indicates a level of security that’s safe for entering financial information.
Don’t enter payment information if the URL begins with only “http” instead of “https.”
What if you donate by mistake?
If you’ve donated to a legitimate organization by mistake, you might reach out to the payment processor.
Nearly every campaign or PAC uses one of two services: Democrats useActBlue, and Republicans useWinRed.
Both ActBlue and WinRed allow you to request refunds if you donated to a legitimate organization by mistake.
In both cases, however, refunds aren’t designed to remedy being grifted.
Look for checkboxes that authorize future donations, such as monthly donations or a scheduled future donation.
These might be automatically checked to rope you into spending more money than you planned.
Opt out by unchecking the box if you only want to donate once.
