Pennsylvania man posing as Trump family members dupes backers out of money, feds say

A 22-year-old has been arrested after he spent over a year impersonating President Donald Trump’s family on social media, officials say.

His ploy even duped Trump himself.

Joshua Hall of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, was charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft after tricking the president’s supporters into donating thousands of dollars to a fictitious political organization, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Federal prosecutors say Hall created social media accounts with the names and photos of the president’s family and used the accounts to endorse himself as a reputable Trump insider and solicit funds. He amassed over 100,000 followers using the accounts, prosecutors say.

“Josh is doing great work so please give him a follow and support him!” Hall posted to an account bearing the name of Robert Trump, the former president’s brother, according to a criminal complaint.

Using the fake account, Hall posed as the president’s brother and told followers they ran the fictitious political organization together, the complaint says.

Three days after Robert Trump’s death was reported in August, prosecutors say Hall created an account using the name and a photograph of Trump’s son, Barron.

“Josh is an amazing patriot who is doing tremendous things for our great country. He has my COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT!” Hall posted from the account, according to the complaint.

On Nov. 20, as Trump fought to reverse the election result, he retweeted a conservative article that said his sister, Elizabeth Trump Grau, joined Twitter and endorsed her brother.

“Thank you Elizabeth, LOVE!” Trump tweeted.

But the account was a fake created by Hall, who was a food delivery driver at the time, The New York Times reported.

“I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness. He actually thinks it’s his sister,’” Hall told The New York Times.

The criminal complaint against Hall does not mention this social media account.

Hall said he was a Trump supporter and created the accounts to support the president, the newspaper reported.

“There was no nefarious intention behind it,” Hall told The New York Times. “I was just trying to rally up MAGA supporters and have fun.”

Now Hall could go to prison for up to 20 years on the wire fraud charge. The aggravated identity theft charge has a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in prison.

“Hall led hundreds of people to believe they were donating to an organization that didn’t exist by pretending to be someone he wasn’t, as alleged,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said in a statement. “As we continue to investigate fraud in all its many forms, we urge the public to remain aware of the prevalence of online scams and exercise due diligence when making donations online.”

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