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How The Trump Campaign Stole Over $100 Million From Their Donors With A Sneaky Recurrent Scam
I just can't stop crying.
Hat tip, BeccaM, at Joe.My.God.
O/T: Unbelievably... and yet totally believably sleazy. The T**** campaign was robbing their own supporters.
Banks and credit card companies “were inundated with fraud complaints from the president’s own supporters about donations they had not intended to make, sometimes for thousands of dollars.” via
@NYTimes
Link to tweet
How The Trump Campaign Stole Over $100 Million From Their Donors With A Sneaky Recurrent Donations Scam
April 3, 2021 Trump Corruption, Trump Lies
The New York Times reports:
{The Hill} reports:
{snip}
April 3, 2021 Trump Corruption, Trump Lies
The New York Times reports:
Facing a cash crunch and getting badly outspent by the Democrats, the campaign had begun last September to set up recurring donations by default for online donors, for every week until the election. Contributors had to wade through a fine-print disclaimer and manually uncheck a box to opt out.
As the election neared, the Trump team made that disclaimer increasingly opaque, an investigation by The New York Times showed.
It introduced a second prechecked box, known internally as a “money bomb,” that doubled a person’s contribution. Eventually its solicitations featured lines of text in bold and capital letters that overwhelmed the opt-out language.
{The Hill} reports:
Former President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign reportedly issued a total of roughly $122 million in refunds to supporters in 2020. The refunds were given, in part, because of a fine-print disclaimer in communications that officials used to continue charging one-time donors or doubling their contribution amounts.
Trump continued to raise money after Election Day through what he claimed was an effort to fight widespread voter fraud in several states. The Trump campaign allegedly used tens of millions of dollars from his “Stop the Steal” efforts to help cover the refunds owed to donors.
The Times piece opens with the story of one Trump donor whose rent checked bounced because of multiple withdrawals by the Trump campaign. That man has since died of cancer. As those who follow me on Twitter might remember, I pointed out this “1000% impact!” scam many, many times.
{snip}
How Trump Steered Supporters Into Unwitting Donations
Online donors were guided into weekly recurring contributions. Demands for refunds spiked. Complaints to banks and credit card companies soared. But the money helped keep Donald Trump’s struggling campaign afloat.
By Shane Goldmacher
April 3, 2021 Updated 4:28 p.m. ET
Stacy Blatt was in hospice care last September listening to Rush Limbaugh’s dire warnings about how badly Donald J. Trump’s campaign needed money when he went online and chipped in everything he could: $500.
It was a big sum for a 63-year-old battling cancer and living in Kansas City on less than $1,000 per month. But that single contribution — federal records show it was his first ever — quickly multiplied. Another $500 was withdrawn the next day, then $500 the next week and every week through mid-October, without his knowledge — until Mr. Blatt’s bank account had been depleted and frozen. When his utility and rent payments bounced, he called his brother, Russell, for help.
What the Blatts soon discovered was $3,000 in withdrawals by the Trump campaign in less than 30 days. They called their bank and said they thought they were victims of fraud. ...“It felt,” Russell said, “like it was a scam.” ... But what the Blatts believed was duplicity was actually an intentional scheme to boost revenues by the Trump campaign and the for-profit company that processed its online donations, WinRed. Facing a cash crunch and getting badly outspent by the Democrats, the campaign had begun last September to set up recurring donations by default for online donors, for every week until the election.
Contributors had to wade through a fine-print disclaimer and manually uncheck a box to opt out. ... As the election neared, the Trump team made that disclaimer increasingly opaque, an investigation by The New York Times showed. It introduced a second prechecked box, known internally as a “money bomb,” that doubled a person’s contribution. Eventually its solicitations featured lines of text in bold and capital letters that overwhelmed the opt-out language.
The tactic ensnared scores of unsuspecting Trump loyalists — retirees, military veterans, nurses and even experienced political operatives. Soon, banks and credit card companies were inundated with fraud complaints from the president’s own supporters about donations they had not intended to make, sometimes for thousands of dollars.
{snip}
Online donors were guided into weekly recurring contributions. Demands for refunds spiked. Complaints to banks and credit card companies soared. But the money helped keep Donald Trump’s struggling campaign afloat.
By Shane Goldmacher
April 3, 2021 Updated 4:28 p.m. ET
Stacy Blatt was in hospice care last September listening to Rush Limbaugh’s dire warnings about how badly Donald J. Trump’s campaign needed money when he went online and chipped in everything he could: $500.
It was a big sum for a 63-year-old battling cancer and living in Kansas City on less than $1,000 per month. But that single contribution — federal records show it was his first ever — quickly multiplied. Another $500 was withdrawn the next day, then $500 the next week and every week through mid-October, without his knowledge — until Mr. Blatt’s bank account had been depleted and frozen. When his utility and rent payments bounced, he called his brother, Russell, for help.
What the Blatts soon discovered was $3,000 in withdrawals by the Trump campaign in less than 30 days. They called their bank and said they thought they were victims of fraud. ...“It felt,” Russell said, “like it was a scam.” ... But what the Blatts believed was duplicity was actually an intentional scheme to boost revenues by the Trump campaign and the for-profit company that processed its online donations, WinRed. Facing a cash crunch and getting badly outspent by the Democrats, the campaign had begun last September to set up recurring donations by default for online donors, for every week until the election.
Contributors had to wade through a fine-print disclaimer and manually uncheck a box to opt out. ... As the election neared, the Trump team made that disclaimer increasingly opaque, an investigation by The New York Times showed. It introduced a second prechecked box, known internally as a “money bomb,” that doubled a person’s contribution. Eventually its solicitations featured lines of text in bold and capital letters that overwhelmed the opt-out language.
The tactic ensnared scores of unsuspecting Trump loyalists — retirees, military veterans, nurses and even experienced political operatives. Soon, banks and credit card companies were inundated with fraud complaints from the president’s own supporters about donations they had not intended to make, sometimes for thousands of dollars.
{snip}
16 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
about Trump's proclivity for cheating, lying, not paying his Bill's, and multiple bankruptcies? 
Fools and their money....... especially if DJT gets a whiff that they have that money. The QOP playbook works like a charm with the Rubes. Pump them full of FEAR, FEAR, FEAR then clean out their bank accounts, because only they can stop the liberal, socialist agenda Democrats have in mind for them all. 
Republicans are sickening, and Donald Trump is the most sickening of all. 
disgusting.................Maybe NOW some people will wake up
