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New York Times investigation found Trump's fundraising campaign employed deceptive fundraising tactics that saw thousands of his supporters unwittingly sign up to give repeat contributions, when they had only intended to make a one-off payment.
The 'scam', which involves pre-ticked boxes on fundraising emails often buried under lines of fine print, sparked thousands of complaints to banks and credit card companies. Among the victims were elderly and military veterans, as well as some experienced political operatives, and many have been left with overdraft fees and busted credit card limits.
Complaints from donors prompted the Trump campaign to eventually reimburse
$122 million in contributions.
The Trump campaigns dubious pre-checked emails first appeared in
March 2020. A bright yellow box began appearing in emails with the words: 'Make this a monthly recurring donation.'
Anyone making a donation would have to opt-out to avoid being charged repeatedly.
Three months later in
June, a second pre-checked box was added to Trump campaign fundraising emails. Known as a '
money bomb', the second box had a much greater degree of success in
ensnaring unsuspecting donors to sign up, as most thought unticking one box would avoid any additional charges.
Then in
September the Trump campaign became more aggressive.
The recurring donation would now be taken out every week, instead of monthly. And the campaign later added large blocks of bold, capitalized text to the boxes to make them harder to decipher.
Soon after Election Day, banks and credit card companies became inundated with complaints. In all, Trump has had to pay back $122 million in donations made to five organizations:
- Donald J. Trump for President
- Trump Victory
- Trump Make America Great Again Committee
- Save America
- Republican National Committee.
Another reason Trump had to refund such large amounts of money was because
many of his individual donors unwittingly exceeded the legally-allowed cap of $2,800.