SNNW received an anonymous email containing details about a new operation that Macedonian scammers based in Veles are running, involving the sale of fake memorabilia products. After confirming that the information was accurate, the SNNW team located in North Macedonia opened an investigation to determine who was really behind this new scam operation.
Following a deeper look into the situation, SNNW first sought to get in touch with one of the victims to understand why, despite all the evidence pointing to a scam, people were still falling for it. We interviewed a woman named Beverly, located in the United States. She agreed to provide information while remaining anonymous for personal reasons.
“My husband and I were first introduced to TRB products through the app Telegram around mid-2023. Everything looked promising in the videos I saw, and I decided to invest around $10,000 into some Trump coins, which were promised to be worth about $100,000 each after the 2024 elections. After waiting a few weeks, my coins arrived. I then got in touch with a Telegram agent who claimed to work for the Trump Organization. He told me that I couldn’t cash out the coins because they were not linked to my Trump Card. He said I needed to pay another $7,000 for two cards to complete the cash-out process. I went through with it and transferred the money via bank transfer. After waiting for the Trump cards to arrive which they never did, I tried reaching out to the agent, but he had blocked me. I then contacted another agent who gave me a similar story—that my payout was still pending in their system and that I needed to pay another $5,000 for a certificate issued and authorized by the Trump Organization. After making the second payment and waiting 20 more days, still nothing arrived. No money showed up in my bank account either. When I tried calling the agent again, he had blocked me as well. From there, every agent I contacted kept demanding more money, claiming it was needed to cash out my coins. In total, I have spent around $22,000 hoping to cash out something. Now they are asking me to pay another $5,000 for some Liberty Cards.”
After the SNNW team explained the full situation and revealed what had been happening from the start, Beverly stated that she no longer knew who to trust and that all she wanted was to recover her lost money. During our investigation, we also discovered additional Telegram channels created by victims and chat messages from people who had similarly wasted their money on products they were told were worth millions—products that ultimately turned out to be worthless memorabilia.
In our previous investigation into this scam, we uncovered that the entire operation originated in the city of Veles—a place that became globally infamous during the 2016–2017 U.S. elections, when a group of teenagers posted fake news about Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump.
🎥 Photographer Guy Martin, travelled to Veles, Macedonia to dig into the heart of the fake news scandal. https://t.co/HX3NfjZqNL pic.twitter.com/VANWEHffYi
— WIRED (@WIRED) February 16, 2017
The foundation for the scamming operation was already in place, but they needed a social media platform to funnel all of the attention with very little regulation on what could be posted—and one that already had a large user base. This is where the Telegram application became the most important tool, allowing the small group of Macedonian scammers to make millions of dollars in just a few years from desperate investors. And to process all of these transactions, they relied on two platforms: Digistore24 and ClickBank.
Both of these platforms accepted numerous TRB (Trump Rebate Banking System) products, including the Trump System Card, TRB Certificate, TRB Membership Handbook, TRB Black Check, TRB Golden Voucher, and many more items bearing Donald Trump’s branding—tricking American patriots into believing they were securing something truly authentic. In reality, all that was happening was that the small group of scammers in Veles was getting rich.
However, following numerous news reports in 2023 from major outlets such as BBC, Forbes, Fox News, and many other popular media organizations, all products related to Donald Trump and the TRB system were removed from the Digistore24 and ClickBank platforms. Nevertheless, images and videos of these products can still be found on Google, along with the fake posts that the scammers in Macedonia used to deceive Trump supporters.
Currently, these platforms do not allow new clients to register using North Macedonian personal details. However, that has not completely stopped the scammers from using these platforms. There are still active products, and it is likely that the scammers are now using personal information from friends or relatives living abroad to continue selling these products.
Some of former President Trump’s most fervent supporters are being swindled into investing thousands in “Trump Bucks” that promise riches once cashed in.
Instead, they’re receiving memorabilia that no bank will cash. https://t.co/9v36WWjwlP
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 1, 2024
In late 2023, the Macedonian scammers began working with another platform that had very few regulations regarding the products being sold. The platform, called Copecart, is headquartered in Germany. Copecart allowed the sale of products such as certificates, tickets, coins, badges, stickers, and cards with chips, priced as high as $10,000—all featuring signatures and images of Donald Trump to make them appear authentic.
Following SNNW’s latest investigation into the case in November 2024, all of these products were removed from the Copecart platform. Products such as the AMF System Card—which alone generated over $4 million in just a few months—and many others, including the QFS System Card, Q Coins, Trump Golden Plates, AMF Tax Card, AMF Form, Campaign Card, TRB BA Card, AMF Fees Cards, BOFT Certificate, QFS Wallet, QFS Card, Trump Certificate, and many more, were making thousands of dollars daily before they were finally taken down.
Now, the real challenge became How to take the money earned through these platforms and convert it into cash. This is where the popular application Payoneer came into play, which the scammers were using. Payoneer allows users to receive American, European, and other international banking details. By using this method and ordering credit cards through the Payoneer platform, the scammers were able to launder all of the money directly—without paying a single dollar in taxes to the Macedonian government.
According to our findings, payouts for these products were made to the Payoneer accounts of these affiliates and vendors. However, SNNW contacted Payoneer and received a response stating that, due to violations on their platform, payouts from Copecart would no longer be processed to any of their clients’ accounts.
However, moving into 2025, some of the same vendors are still selling these types of products, using fake Photoshop images and deepfake videos to trick as many Trump supporters as possible. They are also creating posts featuring celebrities such as Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump Jr., Jeff Bezos, and many others. After analyzing some of the content posted by this vendor, we found that all of it has now been altered, meaning that AI technology was used to make them appear as real as possible. One notable product is the Trump Liberty Badges and the Liberty Card, both operated by the same vendor, listed at prices as low as $200 and upwards of $5,000 on the CopeCart platform.
After contacting the vendor through Telegram messages, we were able to obtain links to his products and promotional materials (referred to as “support material” by the vendors), which were designed to help deceive even more Americans attempting to cash out their TRB products—products that have no real value. In their private Telegram channel, they also post content using deepfake technology to create realistic videos of Donald Trump.
We also identified another vendor on the CopeCart platform who is actively selling a product titled “47th Bitcoin Coins.” Upon request, this vendor provided us with affiliate links and granted access to a private Telegram channel, where he regularly shares content specifically designed to deceive supporters of Donald Trump.
The materials distributed in this private Telegram channel include fake Deepfake videos and digitally altered images featuring U.S. President Donald Trump and other public figures. These manipulated videos falsely portray endorsements of the so-called Trump Bitcoin Coins, claiming that each coin holds a value of over $200,000. Additionally, the vendor frequently shared screen recordings showing that he was earning tens of thousands of dollars per day by selling this product.
There were also other products listed on Copecart, such as the QFS Digital Card. After receiving links from the vendor to his products, he also instructed us on how to use his login website to create fake accounts for TRB clients, displaying million-dollar balances to easily convince them to spend their money on something that didn’t exist.
Additionally, he sent us a script that he had written to help further persuade vulnerable Americans who were hoping to cash out their products. It included text such as:
“Your payout is ready— all you need to do is log in to your account at https://onlinepaytoyou.app/. Once verified, we’ll provide your secure access PIN to finalize the transaction. Your next step is to activate your account. You need to press the “ORDER NOW” button on the card and complete the checkout process. The amount will be credited to your account balance ($2,940), after which the “WITHDRAW” button will become available. You can then schedule a withdrawal to a bank of your choice. You need to pay with the card linked to the account where you want to withdraw your funds. After this step, you can withdraw your first $100,000.00.” The vendor for this product is also posting fake, misleading posts in his channel.
The Macedonian scammers also listed their products on other platforms, such as BuyGoods, where the vendor of the Trump Liberty Badges posts around five times per day in his channel. He specifically uses the story that these badges are currently worth around $250,000 and will be worth around $400,000 in the coming months, he claims that if you are a true Trump supporter, you must order them as soon as possible.
He also asserts that anyone who orders at least one of the badges will be able to easily cash them out at their local Bank of America branch, because—according to his posts—the Trump Organization has partnered with Bank of America to facilitate all cash-outs for the Trump Liberty Badges.
In reality, there are numerous stories of patriots who went to financial institutions like Bank of America, only to be told that the products they spent thousands on are completely worthless. Notably, one vendor, while selling the so-called Trump Liberty Badges, made $2.5 million in just a few months, which he shared in his private Telegram channel.
Our team initially wanted to reach out to the Copecart and BuyGoods platforms directly via email before we publish our entire investigation to ask them a few questions regarding why are they allowing products like this to be sold on their platform, and whether they will take action or allow this illegal and unethical operation to continue. We are still waiting for their response.
Additionally, we contacted the Trump Organization team in New York for comments regarding the situation and to follow up on any legal actions that will be taken against the vendors and affiliates of these products. We also reached out to multiple financial institutions to ask whether they are aware that the Veles scammers are using their services to launder money and whether they intend to continue allowing this activity.
The SNNW team is also currently collaborating with other news channels on Telegram that will be posting details of this investigation to their audiences, encouraging as many people as possible to fight to get their money back if they have fallen victim to this scam—whether by requesting a refund, filing a chargeback, or taking legal action against those responsible.
In this entire investigation, the only people who are losing are the vulnerable Trump supporters who were tricked into buying fake products from Telegram channels. In the end, all of that money was split between the main masterminds behind this operation, including the vendors, affiliates, and the platforms.
