DONALD TRUMP AND THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY DTACP

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“Trump Cards” Scam Targets MAGA Supporters. Some Lose Their Life Savings.

https://www.cf.org/news/trump-cards-scam-targets-maga-supporters-some-lose-their-life-savings/

Foreign con artists have been targeting fervent supporters of former President Donald Trump, leaving many out of pocket due to a scam offering fake ‘Trump Cards,’ according to Rferl. The scam falsely implies an endorsement from Trump himself, exploiting the trust that his supporters have in the former president.

THE SCAM

A story is promoted with American readers in mind according to which products with Trump’s image — for example, coins, stickers, and stamps — will become a currency in the future and worth millions once he’s back in power. Stories suggesting swift financial returns are also distributed via digital channels, frequently zeroing in on Trump supporters.

Communication is conducted through closed Telegram channels, while virtual marketers post false ads to Telegram channels that are open to the public. News that is thought to be of particular interest to a conservative U.S. audience is also shared on those same public channels.

It peddles the premise that people who own TRB products can retrieve returns on previous investments, encouraging them to believe they are simply cashing out with the use of the new cards. The prices of the cards can reach into the thousands of dollars.

“In short, the story will be that they need this product so they can cash in on other TRB products by withdrawing $5,000 every day at the ATM,” one of the closed channels promoting the cards says. The language used to promote the products is often vague and obfuscating. “They can register up to $500,000 on each card.”

WHO’S BEHIND THE FRAUD?

Months of research and infiltration of closed groups on the Telegram platform by RFE/RL’s Balkan Service have identified 69 individuals who posted offers for such fraudulent cards, with the digital trail placing two-thirds of them in Veles, Macedonia. Of the 69 creators of similar products for sale, data from social networks shows that at least 45 declare their location to be Veles, Macedonia.

VICTIMS

Thousands of Trump supporters have found themselves victim to this scam, investing significant amounts of their savings in Trump Bucks. The scam is estimated to be in tens of million of dollars. According to data from Macedonia’s Public Revenue Office, over the past two years 98 individuals under the age of 35 from Veles and the surrounding area have reported a combined 634,198,939 denars (around $11 million) in income from the United States. Most of it was said to have been generated from marketing and Internet services, the office said.

Last September, 86-year-old Ann Bratton thought she’d stumbled onto the investment of a lifetime. “I have been through a nightmare for the last year,” Bratton told RFE/RL. “Counting all the people I have worked with during this time, I have spent well over $30,000 just for cash-out.”

An ad on one of the encrypted Telegram app channels the Nashville-area retiree had joined was offering debit-like “Trump cards” featuring the billionaire U.S. ex-president’s image, each supposedly preloaded with $200,000. After years of forking out tens of thousands of dollars on souvenir banknotes, coins, and other Trump memorabilia, she calculated that she could quickly and easily turn a $6,000 investment into a $4 million nest egg.

“I believe in President Trump, and I think he is honest. I believed that I was investing in the future,” Bratton said of her seven-year splurge on quasi-banknotes, tokens, coins, and more recently the bogus debit cards. “I can’t even remember where it was all advertised.”

After Bratton received 20 “Trump Collection” cards in October 2023, eager for her payout, she tried to use them to withdraw some of the promised cash from a local ATM. “The point I saw [advertised by the vendor] was that I can go to any ATM and withdraw cash, so I did that,” she said. The ATM “just shot [the card] right back out, you know.” She tried several other ATMs, including one operated by Bank Of America.

Across the Atlantic, back in Tennessee, Bratton said she hadn’t reported her case to authorities because she was still “waiting for the last chance” to recoup at least some of her money.

One day before speaking to RFE/RL in late January, she had been contacted again by “TRB support.” They told her she would lose her entire investment if she didn’t provide another $400.

WHAT THEY SAYING
Veles Mayor Marko Kolev

“Some of the young people have found a way to quickly earn serious financial resources, but now I see that the next generations of young people are also following the same path,” Kolev said. He’d heard that “some Trump products” are being sold, he said, but the city can only speculate about such things.

Still, he acknowledges, it is something of an open secret. “Honestly, I don’t know how legal or illegal it is, but there is probably abuse because some of the things that are marketed in those [Telegram] groups are that ‘if Trump came to power, some of the things being sold would have a higher value,'” he said. “This is how U.S. citizens are [being] manipulated.”

Bank of America

“Bank of America has nothing to do with those products. These are souvenirs,” William Halldin, a senior bank media representative, told RFE/RL. He said there were no figures to suggest how many people had tried to cash in on such products. Asked whether there was any way the cards could be turned into cash from his institution, Halldin was brief: “No.”

FBI

In response to an RFE/RL query touching on the Macedonian fraudsters, the FBI said that “as a rule, they do not make any statements about possible ongoing investigations.”

Trump’s campaign

RFE/RL’s Balkan Service sent multiple e-mails to Trump’s campaign press team inquiring whether they were aware of the “Trump cards” or were planning any response. RFE/RL has not received a response.