ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Lehigh County Board of Elections has warned voters to beware of scammers impersonating county election officials through text messages.
County officials said they learned that local voters are being targeted through "smishing" attacks, the board sad in a news release Monday.
Smishing is a technique in which bad actors try to extract someone's personal data by texting them a malicious link.
Lehigh County's Office of Voter Registration will never ask for personal information without first speaking with a voter directly or sending correspondence via mail, according to the release.
In this case, the victims are told in a text that something is wrong with their voter registration. The text instructs them to follow a link to update their registration information, according to the release.
Tim Benyo, Lehigh County's chief clerk of registrations and elections, said in the release that county election officials are not behind the texts and the office doesn't communicate with voters through texts.
Lehigh County's Office of Voter Registration will never ask for personal information without first speaking with a voter directly or sending correspondence via mail, according to the release.
Voters who are concerned about their voter registration status can check it online at pavoterservices.pa.gov by clicking "Find Voter Registration Status."
After providing their name, address and birthdate, voters can see whether they're registered to vote, if they're scheduled to get a mail-in ballot, the location of their local polling places and to which state and congressional districts they belong.
