Scam PACs Seek to Exploit Conservative Causes

The strength of the conservative movement in this election campaign has led to the formation of scam PACs seeking to take advantage of the situation.

The way it works, as Politico describes it, is that the scam artists create a PAC and a web site, which takes little money. Then they rent an e-mail list and solicit donations, implying the money will go to a conservative candidate or cause.

Then the money starts flowing in — small donations $25, $50, etc. But that cash doesn’t go where the donors expect. Rather it goes to the scam artists’ pockets.

These groups use the names of conservative stars like freshman Florida Rep. Allen West to bring in the greenbacks, but then do little if anything to help them.

“The vast majority of the groups that we know are engaged in this have done nothing for West,” Jill Holtzman Vogel, the congressman’s campaign attorney, told Politico.

Of the groups that have doled out some money to West, the amount is a pittance compared to what they keep for themselves. None of the many conservative super PACs which claim they are raising money on his behalf has financed TV ads for him, media trackers and West campaign officials say.

Fortunately for the firebrand Republican, he raised more than $4 million in the third quarter on his own, creaming his Democratic opponent Patrick Murphy, who raised only $1 million, according to The Hill.