'Gullible' QAnon conspiracists scammed by bogus celebrities hawking 'Trumpcoin'

Right-wing conspiracy theorists are being bombarded with bogus celebrity accounts selling "Trumpcoins."

The coins, which show a face resembling Donald Trump and the slogan "Keep America Great," are selling for $30 on the Telegram social media platform popular with QAnon cultists, and fake accounts purporting to be Elon Musk, Mel Gibson, Kirstie Alley and Denzel Washington are hawking them, reported The Daily Beast podcast Fever Dreams.

"THE LAST DAY IS HERE. The countdown has started. It's all part of the show, a show that will leave everyone speechless," the phony Denzel Washington account promises. "Today is the last day and after this a lot of things will change...check the availability and order here at official Trumpcoins dot com."

The bogus celebrities claim the coins will jump in value up to $400 -- or even $10,000 -- once Trump is restored to the White House, although the formerly Trump-supporting Alley has clarified that she's not promoting the currency and some right-wing accounts are warning the coins are a scam.

"I think the lesson of Trumpcoin is that when you have a situation like QAnon, these people have already self-identified as extremely gullible," said The Daily Beast's Will Sommer, "and so a lot of people are then going to come in and sort of try to feed at the trough there."