“I saw ads on Telegram where Trump was promoting coins and checks he endorsed, and how to cash them in and make a profit after a year,” said the grandmother from Mobile. “I was told that you could cash them in at Bank of America, Target, or Amazon.”
The grandmother, who was a resident of Pensacola in Florida, said that about six months ago she drove 60 miles to the east, where she found the closest Bank of America branch.
She said she was welcomed by a teller, who informed her that she had been scammed.
The grandmother explained that when they arrived, the woman told her she had seen dozens come in to cash the checks. They were not involved.
A Florida woman, who lives north from Tampa and asked to remain anonymous because she feared internet harassment, revealed that her mother-in law, aged 77, was also duped into investing thousands of dollars in Trump Bucks.
She said, “My mother in law has always been conservative. She is prone to believing conspiracy theories.” “But she fell into the rabbit hole of the internet after Trump lost.”
It’s not the first time that her mother-in law has been a victim of a scam inspired by Donald Trump.
The Florida woman explained that “she got into Nesara several years ago, which states that the U.S. will undergo a radical economic reset and all debts will be erased.” “She believes she will get all her money back, and make a big profit as well,” the Florida woman said.
The Florida woman first said that her mother-in law “started purchasing all this Trump memorabilia on a website which clearly stated it was memorabilia.”
Patriots Dynasty, Patriots Future and USA Patriots claim purchasers will be able to cash coins and checks like these in at major banks and retailers like Walmart, Costco and Home Depot.
Dan Anderson for NBC News
“She then went on other websites where she found people who claimed that you could buy Trump coins or Trump checks at a price of, say, 100 dollars and take them to the bank to cash them for thousands of dollar.”
The Florida woman claimed that to prove to her mother in law that she was swindled she took her to a bank nearby and encouraged her to redeem the Trump Bucks she held.
The Florida woman stated, “We thought that she had it. She even admitted to being scammed.” “But then, giant boxes of Trump checks and stuff she purchased for $500 that was supposed to be worth $6,000,000 one day arrived at her house. We tell her that she is being scammed, and she replies, “Just wait. Trump will make patriots wealthy.”
The Florida woman said, “It looks like she is in a cult.”
Who Profits?
Good question. The TRB system or the fake promotional videos were not created by the same person.
A New York Times investigation from 2022 reported that a Romanian company was behind the creation of so-called Trump Coins — which were wildly popular in 2020 and fraudulently marketed to consumers as an alternative currency.
The majority of posts and videos in the TRB system link to sites registered under the Patriots Dynasty and Patriots Future company names. Their listed address is Shipoffers.com a shipping centre located in Aurora, Colorado.
Josh Pier, the warehouse manager at Shipoffers, said that while it ships Trump-related items, it does not manufacture them. He refused to reveal what these products were and wouldn’t confirm the names or companies that it ships for. He said that the company ships for many different companies.
Tony Grebmeier is one of the owners of Shipoffers. He said that he had not heard of any problems relating to the products shipped by the company and if there were any, he would take care of it.
Shipoffers, in response to the overwhelming negative Google reviews of its products and services, tells dissatisfied customers that they don’t make or bill their products.
TRB products can be purchased from ClickBank or Digistore24. These are affiliate marketing networks located in Idaho and Florida, that provide products for potential promoters to sell and earn a commission.
These affiliate marketers are identified by their usernames in the unique links that appear on social media sites and YouTube video captions. They receive a percentage of each sale generated through the fraudulent ads.
A list of URLS of just one website shows hundreds affiliate marketers linked with a TRB Membership Booklet, a product falsely promoted as being necessary to redeem TRB products in real money.
NBC News also contacted ClickBank, Digistore24, and ShipOffers to get their comments. A reporter from NBC News received a busy signal when she called the Patriots Dynasty number. A Patriots Dynasty email address also did not respond to any emails.
The grandmother from Alabama says that she was at first fooled by AI versions of Trump in the advertisements. She believed in Trump’s alleged business acumen, and she thought it was a wise investment for her to leave something behind for her kids.
She said, “Now I see, it was stupid.” “But I purchased them because I trusted President Trump. He knows everything about finance and was going to make the real Trump Patriots rich.”
