‘Trump Bucks’ scam

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In the recesses of the internet where some of Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters stoke conspiracies and plot his return to the White House, suspected con artists have been mining their disappointment over the last presidential election for gold.

They’ve been peddling “Trump Bucks,” which are emblazoned with photos of the former president, and advertising them online as a kind of golden ticket that will help propel Trump’s 2024 bid and make the “real patriots” who support him rich when cashed in.

John Amann told NBC News he bought $2,200 worth of Trump Bucks and other items over the past year only to discover they were worthless when he tried to cash them in at his local bank. So he’s gone on Twitter to warn other Trump supporters not to fall for this scam.

NBC News has identified the Colorado-based companies behind the Trump Bucks as Patriots Dynasty, Patriots Future and USA Patriots and reviewed dozens of social posts, online complaints and hundreds of misleading ads for the products. Additionally, NBC News has found at least a dozen people like Amann who say they invested thousands of dollars after watching the pitches on Telegram and other websites that strongly suggested that Trump himself was endorsing these products.

“Now I’m questioning whether he is aware of this,” Amann said of Trump.

Repeated attempts to reach a spokesperson for Trump and his re-election campaign by email have gone unanswered. No evidence suggests the alleged scammers are connected to Trump or his re-election campaign.

In addition to tweeting a warning to others about the scam, Amann said he posted a review on TrustPilot, a website where consumers can rate and review businesses.

The Federal Trade Commission, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from NBC News, confirmed it has received one fraud complaint against Patriots Dynasty that was filed in January. But it provided no further details about the single complaint or who filed it.

The Better Business Bureau has given the companies, which operate out of an industrial center in the Denver suburb of Aurora, an F rating, and the 33 complaints on the BBB site are unsparing in their criticism of the company.

Repeated attempts to reach representatives for the companies by phone and email were unsuccessful. But Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin said he’s heard reports from bank employees of customers coming in to exchange their Trump Bucks for actual cash, but the bank routinely turns them down.

“It’s hard to put a number on how many people have come in,” Halldin said when asked for more specifics about who these people are and where they are located.

What it is
Since 2020, when Joe Biden defeated Trump in the presidential election, internet hucksters have been selling pro-Trump products like coins, checks and cards and marketing them as novelty items.

The fine print on the websites offering these items usually notes that they are memorabilia.

But on social media and in promotional videos — many featuring faked celebrity endorsements — the sellers have tapped an audience that believes Trump’s ouster was part of a great conspiracy and that by investing in the Trump Rebate Banking System, or TRB for short, Trump will reward their loyalty by making them rich.

Those who buy these items, the ads from Patriots Dynasty, Patriots Future and USA Patriots suggest, will be rewarded when Trump unveils a new monetary system that will turn these products into legal tender worth far more than the purchase price.

Invest in a TRB membership card “issued by Donald Trump,” the ads from Patriots Dynasty, Patriots Future and USA Patriots claim, and the purchaser who spent, say, $99.99 on a “$10,000 Diamond Trump Bucks” bill will be able to cash it in for $10,000 at major banks and retailers like Walmart, Costco and Home Depot.

“TRB system membership cards are official cards issued by Donald Trump to allow Trump Bucks holders to use Trump Bucks as legal tender and deposit them in banks such as JP Morgan Chase, the Bank of America and Wells Fargo,” a narrator identified only as “John” that appears to be a computer-generated voice says in one YouTube ad just moments after cautioning viewers that “Trump Bucks are not legal tender.”

“Wells Fargo has no affiliation with this product, and cannot accept it for deposit,” a bank spokesperson said.

JP Morgan Chase did not immediately respond to an email from NBC News seeking additional comment.

It’s a get-rich-quick scam that is catnip to a certain kind of Trump supporter — including QAnon believers and others who believe the former president is the only solution to America’s problems.

NBC also reached out to representatives for Walmart, Costco and Home Depot by email to see if they’ve had customers come in to try to cash in their Trump Bucks.

“We don’t have any connection to this, and it isn’t a problem we’re seeing at our stores,” Home Depot spokesman Terrance Roper said in an email to NBC News.

Walmart spokesman Robert Arrieta said “we have not heard of this scam”

Michael J. Clark, a former FBI agent who teaches criminal justice at the University of New Haven, said it’s likely many of the victims have not yet figured out they’ve been conned.

How it spreads
Fawning reviews are posted on dozens of websites with the headlines “SCAM OR LEGIT” that can stack Google with positive results and in hundreds of YouTube videos.

In AI-generated promotional videos shared on social media and in chat groups, celebrities and politicians, including Trump, appear to endorse the scam.

In one, Trump appears to announce the launch of the TRB system on Fox News.

“Let’s make America wealthy again,” the artificially generated voice of Trump says.

In another, Twitter-owner Elon Musk appears to say “That Trump certificate is not a joke, it’s real. Everyone needs to get as many as they can. I spend one million dollars on Trump certificates and this week I’m going to cash out my Trump items. Soon I will be the richest person on the planet again.”

In reality, the advertisement features footage lifted from Musk’s appearance at a TED event in 2022. The video ends with a slide advertising a free app that promises to “make your favorite celebrity say anything.

It’s so pervasive that even pro-Trump websites and Trump supporters have been sounding the alarm.

Blogger Noah Christopher, who is the moderator of the “WeLoveTrump” Telegram group with 26,000 subscribers, has urged his followers more than 30 times this year alone to “not get conned.”

“The faked videos have been posted relentlessly by fake social media accounts on Facebook, TikTok, and in Telegram groups catering to devoted Trump supporters,” Noah wrote last month. “Unreal how pervasive and aggressive this scam is.”

Who profits?
Good question. It’s not clear who concocted the TRB system scheme or created the fake promotional videos.

A 2022 New York Times investigation reported a Romanian marketing company to be at the origin of so-called Trump coins — which had been wildly popular in 2022 and were also fraudulently marketed as a kind of alternative currency.

Most of the posts and videos for the TRB system currently link to websites registered with the company names Patriots Dynasty, Patriots Future and USA Patriots, whose listed address can be traced to Shipoffers.com, a shipping center in Aurora, Colorado.

Shipoffers warehouse manager Josh Pier said the center ships Trump-related products but said it doesn't manufacture them. He declined to discuss what those products are and would not confirm the names of the companies it ships for. The company handles shipping for a variety of companies, he said.

Pier was echoed by Tony Grebmeier, one of the Shipoffers owners, who said he was unaware of any problems with any of the products the company ships and said if he was aware of any issues he’d take care of them.

Responding to overwhelmingly negative Google reviews, Shipoffers tells unhappy buyers that it doesn't actually make the products or bill customers.

The TRB products are purchased through online retailers ClickBank and Digistore24, which are affiliate marketing networks based in Idaho and Florida that connect would-be promoters with products to sell and earn commissions.

The unique links posted across social media and in the captions of YouTube videos contain the usernames of these affiliate marketers, who get a cut from each sale generated by the fraudulent ads.

A list of URLS for just one website, shows hundreds of affiliate marketers associated with a TRB membership booklet, a product falsely marketed as necessary to redeem the TRB products for real money.

NBC News has also reached out to ClickBank, Digistore24 and ShipOffers for comment. When an NBC News reporter called the Patriots Dynasty phone number, she got a busy signal. There was also no response to an email sent to the address associated with Patriots Dynasty.

It's a shame many of them won't see that obvious grifter is obvious.

What is it about this sort of candidate that draws all the grifters to them like moths to a flame?

Yeah.

For some reason the grifters all think that ...if you support Trump...then you MUST be an easy mark .
Cant IMAGINE WHY they would think that.

If they didn't spot the grifter in Trump they're not gonna spot this grift either.

Even if it was actually endorsed by trump, is it not a red flag that it's a total scam by how INSANE the whole thing sounds??? Umm, yeah.. trump is gonna just print up trump bucks with his face on it and sell $10k worth for $99.99 and then through the same magic process he used to instantly declassify documents by just thinking about it, he's gonna wave a magic wand and convert 10 grand in trumpopoly money into USD at a rate of 1:1 and boom you trade it for US cash... riiiiight, $99.99 into $10k with a single currency conversion. It's as if all of these people are in comas or something and trump, or deep fake trumps, can just freely grab them by the wallet and empty it right out.

Wtf. Morons. It's hard to feel bad for them.

Watch this and weep...because you didnt think of this product first!


https://youtu.be/EwArMFCLmZY

That ad is so bad it looks like they're making fun of trump supporters. I went to the website and fb page, and it appears to be an actual product and this is an actual advertisement trying to sell it to people. Whoa. That's REAAALLY really bad.. like just brutally pathetic that this ad might actually appeal to someone and get them to buy this $60 fugly bear.

I can't imagine anyone watching this and thinking "Wow, I'm a Marine/firefighter/commercial cleaner/restauranteur/factory worker and Just Like that person in the ad I Need to have this stuffed bear in my life because it has a slight resemblance to my cult leader so OBVIOUSLY it's a good luck charm and I'll make WAY MORE than my $60 "investment," back in good fortune brought to me by trumpy bear!! !"

Like, in what world are these people even real? Sad.

Exactly. You cant tell if this is an SNL spoof, or if its for real. Apparently, its for real. One those occasions when the real thing and a parody are indistinguishable.