Better Business Bureau warns against election scams

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ( WIAT ) — CBS 42 is Your Local Election Headquarters.

Monday is the last day to register to vote in Alabama, and the Better Business Bureau warns that scammers may use that deadline to take advantage of you. Carl Bates from the Better Business Bureau in Birmingham told CBS 42 more about these possible scams.

"As the elections heat up, especially the presidential election, you want to be careful if someone asks you to register to vote," Bates said. "There's no other way to register to vote except to go to the county register's office or to register online through alabamavoter.gov at the Secretary of State's office. We see a lot of those at festivals and farmer's markets. We also see a lot of people getting mailers now this week from other entities saying to sign this and send it back to us or go on our website and register. All they're doing is trying to get your information to try and steal your identity."

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Bates explained that some unsolicited texts and apps encourage people to click a link to register to vote. However, clicking these links could result in malware being installed on devices, and any personal information that is entered could be stolen.

"If they're asking for things like your social security number, your birthdate, your driver's license number, things like that, that is not a legitimate register to vote operation, and they could, again, just be trying to steal your identity. So, you cannot be too careful, " Bates said.

Bates explained that many political donation requests also come from scammers.

"Before you make a donation, make sure you've contacted the legitimate candidate's website. Not any of these you get through email or through text message," Bates said.

Some of the other advice Bates gave regarding political donation requests is the following: