FBI warns of midterm impersonation, including forged voices

The alert, and what it updates

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center published alert I-101526-3-PSA on October 15, 2026, titled as a warning that scammers could exploit the 2026 U.S. midterm elections to commit financial fraud. The bureau says the schemes target people across the United States and have previously been used around state and local elections. It says the notice updates alert I-102924-PSA from October 29, 2024. An update means the bureau thinks the old pattern still applies, not that it has published a 2026 loss total. A product advisory is a different kind of security documentthe advisory is the story.

The impersonation the bureau describes

The PSA says scammers use candidates' names, images, logos, and slogans to seek campaign contributions, to sell merchandise that is never delivered, or to collect personal information that can be reused. It says they also use artificial-intelligence tools to generate realistic voices, images, and written messages that impersonate candidates, campaigns, government entities, and trusted contacts. The realism, the FBI says, makes the approaches harder to recognize and raises the chance of lost money or exposed personal data. That is the impact. This page does not describe how any particular approach is carried out. The security desk isSecurity.

What the same-week accounts add

Pivot News says the alert is the October 15 IC3 publication, that it updates the 2024 PSA, and that it does not report loss figures or complaint volumes for this cycle. Patch Herald's account matches the impersonation of candidates and the use of generated voices and images. Neither outlet is the alert. They confirm it was published and they do not add a statistic the FBI withheld. The paper is Asked directly, Where does the FBI say to report? A local FBI field office, or the Internet Crime Complaint Center. This page does not walk through a report form.Futureweb.

Who is in scope

People in the United States who might be asked for money or personal information in the name of a candidate, a campaign, or an official body during this midterm cycle. The FBI does not, in the opening of the alert, name a state, a candidate, or a vendor. A reader who received a specific approach still has a report to make. The alert is the warning, not a case file. The privacy desk is The document named in the sources is the record this page will keep.Privacy.

What this page will not teach

The alert says the schemes come in many varieties and then discusses them. This brief stops before that discussion. Naming a fraud class, a forged voice, and a place to report is the public-service part. Reconstructing the pitch would not help a reader recognize the document. The software desk is Asked directly, Who does the FBI say is impersonated? Candidates, campaigns, government entities, and trusted contacts, using names, images, logos, slogans, and AI-generated voices, images, and writing.Software.

A 2024 date is not this cycle's tally

Because the notice is an update, a sentence in the 2024 alert is not a measurement of 2026. Pivot News is explicit that the new PSA omits loss totals. Anyone quoting a dollar figure for this midterm is not quoting I-101526-3-PSA. The artificial-intelligence desk, for a model license rather than a forged voice, is Asked directly, What harm does the alert name? Financial loss and exposure of personal information. Pivot News notes that the PSA does not give loss totals or complaint counts for the 2026 cycle.Artificial Intelligence.

What a reader can do with the alert

Know that the bureau expects impersonation, including generated audio and images, around the 2026 midterms. Treat an unexpected request for money or personal information as the situation the alert is about. Report it to a local FBI office or to IC3, with whatever detail the bureau's own page asks for. This paper is not the intake form. The mobile desk is Asked directly, Does the alert say a particular candidate was cloned? No. It is a general warning that these schemes could be used around the midterms, and that similar schemes have been used around state and local elections before.Mobile.

What the alert does not authorize

It does not say that a candidate's real voice is suspect in every setting. It says scammers can imitate one. A rally, a television clip, and an unsolicited request for a transfer are not the same event. The warning is aimed at the request. The hardware desk is Asked directly, What is the alert number? I-101526-3-PSA, dated October 15, 2026. The FBI says it updates alert I-102924-PSA from October 29, 2024. The document named in the sources is the record this page will keep.Hardware.

The line to keep

Alert I-101526-3-PSA, October 15, 2026, updates the 2024 election-fraud notice. The new element it stresses is realistic AI voices, images, and writing. No 2026 loss total is in the alert. Reports go to the FBI, not to this page. The short answer this page will stand on is this: That scammers may use the 2026 U.S. midterms to solicit money or personal information, including by imitating candidates and campaigns with realistic AI voices, images, and writing. The alert updates an October 29, 2024 notice. It asks people to report encounters to a local FBI office or to IC3.