Washington — The FBI executed a search warrant at the office of an Ohio-based community grassroots group known for its voter registration work as part of an ongoing fraud-related investigation, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
The target of the search, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, is a civil rights organization that works to register voters and advocates for criminal and economic justice reform.
Around the same time the search warrant was executed on Thursday, federal agents also started showing up at the homes of employees and volunteers to interview them as part of the probe, said Prentiss Haney, a board member of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative who was authorized to discuss the matter for the group.
The search, and the attempts to interview people affiliated with the group, were reported earlier by MS Now.
Haney said that the questions from the agents…
These frauds exploit emotional vulnerability and trust rather than technical weaknesses.
- Romance Scams: Scammers build long-term online relationships with victims, eventually fabricating a “crisis” (medical emergency, legal trouble, or travel costs) that requires the victim to send money.
- Pig Butchering: A hybrid scam where the criminal builds a romantic or platonic relationship to eventually “tutor” the victim in a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment.