Alabama woman loses $152K as crypto scams target Trump supporters

Less than two months after President Donald Trump returned to office, scammers have begun targeting supporters who contributed to the American president’s campaign. Many of these fraudulent schemes target supporters who bought memorabilia to support the Republican candidate’s presidential bid. 

When Donald Trump said he would run for president again, it seemed a longshot in the aftermath of his loss in 2020. Well, things did not really heat up until last year when he went above and beyond to sway public opinion and rally funds as elections drew closer. 

The Trump campaign particularly churned out tonnes of memorabilia to raise funds, which his supporters bought in loads — from MAGA caps to coins with his face on them. 

The memorabilia strategy worked; campaign coffers filled up quickly. However, those who bought various items now find themselves targeted by malicious actors who, in some cases, told them their purchases were investments that would grow in value once Trump became president. 

It’s been over a month since Trump was sworn in, and many of those people are now finding out such promises were scams.

How the scams work

According to Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at ESET, these scams work well because they exploit psychological triggers.

Consider the case of this Alabama woman, who found herself browsing various Trump supporter groups on Telegram not long after the election. That was when she noticed members referring to a scheme where people could get paid just for owning memorabilia. 

The lady had purchased coins and other Trump memorabilia and was interested in making some quick bucks, so she reached out to a Telegram account promoting the scheme. 

They informed her that if she could provide pictures of the products, she was eligible for a $13 million rebate. To claim it, all she had to do was pay the transaction fees, which cost just over $152,000, to be sent in cryptocurrency. 

According to Forbes, that money went directly into the fraudsters’ crypto wallets but the woman never got the $13 million. The scam has been around since the early 2020s and this latest stunt is only a variation. 

The scam was dubbed the Trump Rebate Banking (TRB) scheme, where fraudsters promise gullible fans that the coins and bills, as well as other president-themed financial instruments, would not only help him win the election but would later be worth huge sums once he was in office. 

Those who fell for the scams usually lost some thousands because victims were only scammed of their initial investment, making the Alabama woman one of the most prolific instances. 

The Alabama woman who fell victim contacted the Lincoln Police Department after she didn’t get her rebate. Fortunately, she could get her money back as the FBI had Binance freeze the stolen funds in November, and they remain in federal custody. 

More scams targeting Trump fans 

The public is slowly getting sensitized about these scams, but there are still plenty of scams targeting Trump fans across major online platforms. 

Forbes has identified several accounts on Telegram promising to help people make money from their Trump-related items. Many more were also found on X, the platform owned by Trump ally and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk. 

The scammers offer to assist people trying to cash out on their Trump-themed products. Some also claim to help those who’ve been scammed. Their growing contingent of victims has been growing increasingly vocal on X. 

“It’s disgusting that [people] use President Trump’s name to create scams or sell stuff,” one user wrote in a thread last month with another who had reportedly spent as much as $40,000 on Trump goods thinking they would appreciate and could be sold at a premium. 

The user later realized it was a scam account because of more weird posts from it. “It’s possible to help you get your cashout now,” one TRB-themed X account, whose profile linked to a Telegram user offering to help anyone make money from Trump memorabilia.

X has yet to comment on the matter but when Telegram responded to the subject, its spokesperson Remi Vaughn reiterated the commitment to keeping fraud off the platform. 

“Each day, moderators remove millions of pieces of harmful content from Telegram, including scams,” Vaughn said. 

Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at security company ESET, has also urged users to do their due diligence on accounts or groups promoting such offers before taking part. As earlier stated he believes these scams work because they exploit psychological triggers that make people vulnerable to minor manipulation. 

“Furthermore, many Trump supporters are deeply invested in his brand and remain behind him politically — and even financially — so the idea that their memorabilia has increased in value aligns with their belief in his power, making them more likely to fall for it,” Moore added. 

Of course, the only time that the Trump team has deigned to give back to supporters who bought memorabilia was when they organized an airdrop of 3 $TRUMP tokens, the president’s official meme token, for memorabilia buyers. 

Those who could claim the airdrop included those who bought Trump items, with the value capped at the same level for everybody, irrespective of how much they spent on their purchases. 

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