Thousands of Trump followers tricked by scammers targeting his new crypto project

EXCLUSIVE: More than 70,000 people drawn to fake giveaway after ad was placed on official Telegram channel

A new crypto project promoted by Donald Trump has been hijacked by scammers, who have lured tens of thousands of people to a group promising fake cryptocurrency giveaways.

The Trump-backed World Liberty Financial platform has attracted more than 230,000 subscribers to its official Telegram channel since launching last month, despite offering no information about the project beyond a promise to challenge the dominance of big banks.

A rival channel operated by cyber criminals has managed to place ads on the official channel in an attempt to profit from the hype surrounding the venture, drawing in more than 70,000 Telegram users.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville on 27 July, 2024 (AP)

The channel associated with the scam, called ‘World Liberty Financial Airdrop’, claims to offer up to $15,000 worth of cryptocurrency for anyone who “connects” their crypto wallet, according to posts seen by The Independent. Such an action would expose any funds within a wallet, but it is not clear how many of the subscribers have fallen victim to the scam.

The Independent has reached out to Telegram for further information and comment. The app’s chief executive, Pavel Durov, was arrested last week in France following an investigation into moderation on the platform, some of which related to cyber crime.

The official Telegram channel for World Liberty Financial warned against the fake channel, and also changed the bio of its account on X to deter followers against “scams, fake tokens and airdrop offers” circulating on the Elon Musk-owned platform.

“We have been made aware of some ads circulating on Telegram claiming to be from us, offering fake airdrops or token sales,” a warning posted to the group’s official Telegram channel stated on Thursday, 29 August.

“Please do not click on any ads or links that claim to be associated with World Liberty Financial. We are not doing any airdrops or selling any tokens at this time.”

Just below the warning was an ad for a fake ‘World Liberty Financial Airdrop’, which has remained in a prominent position on the channel for four days without being removed.

To celebrate passing 100,000 subscribers, World Liberty Financial launched an “epic meme contest” that saw hundreds of entrants share images, gifs and videos promoting Mr Trump in his bid to retake the White House. Some took the opportunity to call-out the official project as a scam, while others have labelled it the “latest grift” from the billionaire.

Mr Trump has described himself as the “crypto president” in recent months, promising to create a “national bitcoin stockpile” and form a “crypto presidential advisory council” if elected in November.