Trump Bucks is a new subject of spam letters you can find in your email inbox. They contain a dubious offer to purchase the collectible $5000 bills with Donald J. Trump picture on its face. Despite being seemingly harmless, it practises questionable methods of promotion. Aside from that, I managed to spot some other suspicious things. Let’s have a more detailed look upon that, and figure out if purchasing Trump Bucks is safe.
What is Trump Bucks?
Trump Bucks is quite an ordinary example of souvenir money. This, actually, contains the picture of the 45th President of the United States – Donald Trump. The exact bill has a goldish or whitish colour and is made of plastic, contrary to regular dollars. Denomination of those bills is $5000 or $10000. What is peculiar about these bills is that different nominals are sold by different organisations, and they never refer to each other.
Different bills with Trump available for sale
The site assures that these bills will be cool collectible items for those who want to claim their support for Donald Trump. Additional functions are “annoying liberals” and “possibly high value in future”. It is not clear how fake plastic bills can act as a store of value. It is also strange to use them as a way to claim your political views – folks rarely peek into someone’s wallet. Still, it is possibly normal as a bauble.
What is Trump Bucks Email Spam
As I have mentioned at the beginning, the main way the Trump Bucks are promoted are through email messages. These emails contain the offer to purchase the collectibles at a huge discount. Overall, the text of promotion letters looks typical for the classic email spam. Substitute “Trump Bucks” with the other thing that uses spam for promotion and you’re good to go.
The example of a Trump Bucks spam email
The letter body contains the following rows:
From: Roxanne Bloodsworth
Subject: Get Your $5000 Trump Bucks Today!
Message Body:
Hi,
Now's your chance to own these fun imitation $5000 collectible Trump Bucks.
These are a great way to show your support for Trump.
Supplies are Limited so Order Today!
Save Up to 80% OFF Today and Get FREE Shipping!
hxxps://cutt[.]ly/20tP5Hg
Have a nice day,
Yves
Usage of a short link, lots of capital letters, and promises for an 80% discount – that should alarm you. None of the companies that apply conventional advertising through emails will use such text. No one will send these messages in a random manner on such a huge scale either. Over the last week, we gathered information about over a thousand users who got such emails. And there are other examples – with different texts and promises. But is Trump Bucks purchase offer dangerous or a scam?
Are Trump Bucks emails a scam?
To find an answer to that question, I reviewed the website that the email refers to. It is a typical landing page, which contains only a sales offer – 4 different options, actually. They differ by the amount of Trump Bucks. The more you order – the less will be the cost for a single bill. The page also specifies a basic cost – $24.99 for each, and the most expensive cost per unit within the “discount” is $8.99. Isn’t it the peak of generosity to offer almost a triple-fold discount for the smallest order size? Or the bauble costs so cheap that even $4.99 (the lowest price, with an order size of 100 items) provides an enormous margin for crooks?
Different order sizes for Trump money
The only possible interaction upon the site is ordering Trump Bucks. The information about the seller is questionable, and customer reviews are not very informative. The phone number offered as a “customer support contact” belongs to Patriot Publications. This company works in digital publications and e-commerce – which has nothing to do with Trump Bucks. Neither Patriot Publications nor sites with Trump Bucks say a word about each other.
But there’s probably a tiny silver lining in these muddy waters. The payment page actually looks trustworthy – it is a genuine Clickbank invoice page. As in any other online shopping procedure, you type your bank card info, delivery address, and other details that are needed for delivery. At this point, I can consider that this organisation – whatever it is – does not aim for the exact scamming. Instead, it has another phoney element that makes me believe that Trump Bucks sell-off is not a trustworthy thing.
Is the Trump Bucks sale dangerous?
A deeper analysis of the website that hides beneath the short link shows a strange tracking script. It seems that it gathers information about the user activity on the website. The information it grabs is not something that violates your privacy, but there are no cookie warnings that became typical for websites over the last decade. Another funny thing is the “Today Only” signs across the entire page. It was “Today Only” on Thursday, December 8, and remains “Today Only” on December 10. Overall, the page looks as a classic landing for advertising with malware, particularly adware or malicious plugins.
Still, scripts and other stuff are miserable compared to the monetary question. Each thing has its price, and this price is how much average folks willing pay for it. The problem is that people usually overestimate the price of such trinkets as Trump Bucks. $25 for a piece, or $8 with the “discount” applied is too much for a thin layer of plastic, despite its golden colour and Trump portrait. The fact that sellers can decrease the initial price down to $5 clearly says that the real value of Trump Bucks is even lower. For sure, you are free to spend your money to purchase whatever you want. But I just want to warn you that its price is inflated at least tenfold.
