Truth Social users say they lost thousands in online scams on the platform, with some victims being fleeced out of six-figure sums.
Complaints filed to the Federal Trade Commission, obtained by Gizmodo, detail the myriad schemes of fraudsters using Donald Trump’s social media platform in the past two years.
Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group, has been losing money and struggling to raise revenue.
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Many of the app’s users, particularly retired “Boomers” with life savings, fell for “pig butchering” scams in which a grifter persuades an individual to buy into a dubious investment scheme, convincing the victim to make larger contributions by tricking them into thinking they’re making money.
“The scammers will often give the victim access to a website that shows a certain dollar amount in ‘their’ account but the money is long gone,” the report explained. “It’s not sitting there for them to withdraw. It’s simply a ruse for the victim to see their imaginary money grow, luring them into ‘investing’ even more.”
Several of these older users “don’t seem to understand that any amount they might see on their end that’s supposedly sitting in an account is completely fictitious.”
Many of the complaints filed with the FTC appear to involve elderly fans of Donald Trump.
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A Minnesota user, aged 60 to 64, claimed they lost $500,000 after being lured into investing in cryptocurrency. According to their complaint, the scammer continuously misled them into paying various fees to transfer their investment to their bank account. “After I pay this they promise there will be no more fees and I will receive my assets,” the victim said.
Another victim, who allegedly lost $170,000, said they were first defrauded on a different site but they connected with someone on Truth Social who offered to “get their money back” before scamming them as well. Typically, however, victims are first contacted on Truth Social before being lured elsewhere like WhatsApp.
Truth Social’s seemingly target-rich environment is also home to romantic relationship scams, including one 72-year-old man reporting that, after chatting with a “beautiful” woman on the app, he was fleeced out of $21,000. “I haven’t told my wife about this blunder. She still doesn’t know about it,” his complaint read.
A group representing Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group, told Gizmodo that they have “a robust team that actively searches for scams and bots on the platform and bans them as soon as they’re found.”
The troubling report came as the chief operating officer of Trump Media & Technology Group resigned; his departure is allegedly connected a whistleblower complaint regarding mismanagement.
A few days prior to the shock resignation, one of the company’s major shareholders announced they sold their stake in the operation, which has long been losing money and struggling to raise revenue
