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   From: nowomr@protonmail.com   
      
   MAGA Supporters Say They Were Duped into ‘Trump Bucks’ Get-Rich-Quick   
   Scheme   
      
      
      
   May 28, 2023   
   MAGA Supporters Say They Were Duped into 'Trump Bucks' Get-Rich-Quick   
   Scheme   
      
      
   Alleged scammers have been cashing in on a “Trump Bucks” scheme that has   
   some of the former president’s most fervent and vulnerable supporters   
   buying worthless checks, coins, and cards they believe will make them   
   rich.   
      
   According to an NBC News report, Trump Bucks are being advertised on areas   
   of the internet peddling conspiracies to the MAGA crowd. These Trump Bucks   
   look like coins, checks, or membership cards and often have Trump’s face   
   on them, but they are not legal tender — something purchasers have   
   discovered when trying to redeem them at stores and banks. There is no   
   evidence that Trump or his campaign are associated with the purported   
   scam, but videos with AI-generated audio impersonating Trump (or sometimes   
   billionaire Elon Musk) appear to endorse the products.   
      
   “Let’s make America wealthy again,” an AI-generated Trump voice says in   
   one video on TikTok surfaced by NBC.   
      
   Another video on YouTube claims, “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.” But just seconds before that, the ad   
   said that “Trump Bucks are not legal tender.”   
      
   As one 75-year-old Alabama grandmother told NBC News, “I saw all these ads   
   on Telegram that had Trump pushing coins and checks that he endorsed and   
   how you can cash them in after a year and make a profit,” she said,   
   declining to be named for fear of harassment. “I was told how you can go   
   to Bank of America or Target or Amazon to cash them in.”   
      
   And so that’s exactly what she attempted to do. The grandmother drove 60   
   miles to find a Bank of America branch and tried to cash in her Trump   
   Bucks. “When we get there the lady tells me she’s seen dozens of people   
   coming in to cash these checks and they have nothing to do with this,” the   
   grandmother said.   
      
      
   Another person who purchased Trump Bucks, John Amann, took to Twitter to   
   warn others that they “have no monetary values they are COMMEMORATIVE   
   ONLY.”   
      
   The companies behind Trump Bucks were identified by NBC as Patriots   
   Dynasty, Patriots Future and USA Patriots. The news outlet spoke to “at   
   least a dozen” people who spent thousands on Trump Bucks that have no   
   legal value. The Federal Trade Commission told NBC that it has received   
   one fraud complaint against Patriots Dynasty.   
      
   A woman who lives in Florida also spoke to NBC News and said her 77-year-   
   old mother-in-law purchased tens of thousands of dollars Trump Bucks. “My   
   mother-in-law has always been conservative and prone to believe in   
   conspiracy theories,” she said. “But after Trump lost the election, she   
   went down the internet rabbit hole with this.”   
      
   The woman said that her mother-in-law first started buying Trump   
   memorabilia and was aware the memorabilia had no monetary value. But then   
   the mother-in-law fell for “other sites” that were “claiming that if you   
   buy these Trump coins or these Trump checks for, say, a hundred dollars,   
   you’ll be able to take them to a bank and cash them in for thousands of   
   dollars.”   
      
   Hoping to dissuade her mother-in-law from buying more, the woman took her   
   to a bank to attempt to cash in her worthless Trump Bucks.   
      
   While there is no evidence the former president is linked to the alleged   
   con, scammers appear to be using his name to swindle unsuspecting Trump   
   enthusiasts   
      
   “We thought she got it, she even admitted she got scammed,” the daughter-   
   in-law said. “But then giant boxes arrived at the house full of Trump   
   checks and other stuff that she bought for $500 and that would supposedly   
   be worth $6 million one day. We tell her she’s getting scammed, and she   
   says, ‘Just wait, Trump will make all the patriots rich.’”   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)