A 53-year-old woman is convinced that she’s dating Barron Trump after a “verified” profile contacted her claiming to be the president’s son.
According to a viral Reddit post on the r/legaladvice forum, user Awkward_Steak_2512 said their mother had become convinced she was in a romantic relationship with President Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron Trump.
The alleged scammer has already persuaded the woman to send large amounts of money and promised a wealthy future in return.
The New York native explained that their mother told them that she was dating someone. Given that their mother hadn’t dated anyone in over 20 years, they were intrigued to know about the person she is dating.
The mother then told the Redditor that Barron Trump had reached out to her and that she’s dating him. Before the Redditor could argue, the mother defended herself. She stated she “knew about social media scammers”, but added that the account is a “verified” profile with photos too.
She was asked whether “Barron” had ever requested money, and whether she had sent any. She did not answer directly at first. Instead, she said that Barron had promised to add her to his will. The Redditor said:
“She started talking about how rich we were going to be when they got married and when I pressed further she said that he had asked for “just” 75,000 as a loan because all of his money was tied up in stocks.”
Adding:
“She said that he was going to pay her back with interest in a few weeks and that they were going to meet in person around the same time.”
The Redditor claimed their mother had already sent around $13,000 to a Bitcoin account and was preparing to transfer substantially more.
The concerned family member turned to Reddit for advice and legal guidance.
They also stated that the mother doesn’t have dementia or any other cognitive impairments. She just has a bad experience with love and is always talking “about finding the perfect one.”
The post quickly gained traction with over 4,000 upvotes and many comments. Many commenters noted that, even though the story sounds bizarre, scammers are targeting older adults. One said:
“My mother fell for a similar scam despite typically being a street smart, bright woman…Scammers have gotten really sophisticated and play on the strongest of human emotions.”
“People being scammed are usually unwilling to believe that they’re being taken advantage of, and have strong denial.”
Others questioned the age gap between the two and suggested severe cognitive decline or Alzheimer’s.
“Barron Trump is, what, 19? I gently suggest your mom might have developed a cognitive impairment if she thinks that’s ok,” someone wrote.
“This is one of the things my mom started doing when she got Frontotemporal dementia. If I could go back in time I would force my mom in the car with me to “get ice cream” and take her in for a brain mri. I’m serious, this is very concerning. Please get her checked out,” reads another comment.
