Page 37 - Cyber Warnings

The site promised members of the public the chance to win a dinner with Donald Trump, and
offered them a chance to make monetary donations to the cause. But according to Politico, the
site was not what it appears to be.

Although fine print outlined the site's real purpose, the DinnerWithTump site was so convincing
that Hawes reportedly convinced hundreds of individuals into making more than a million dollars
of contributions.

There is no telling where those contributions went. What’s worse, as part of the scheme, these
unfortunate victims have submitted their personal information to Hawes, arming him with
valuable data for future exploits.

Not surprisingly, the Trump organization fought back and is engaged with a war of words and
legal notifications with Hawes. The campaign reported that it is “concerned about the likelihood
of confusion among the public” because of American Horizon’s use of “Trump's name, image,
likeness, or slogans in connection with soliciting contributions and conducting other activities.”

This is a distraction for the campaign, a drain on campaign resources, and a siphoning of cash
contributions intended to support the Trump campaign. [Note: the dinnerwithtrump.org site has
been removed, and the Dinner with Trump contest has been taken down. The associated Super
PAC website managed by Mr. Hawes -- https://americanhorizons.org/ remains up]

Though this kind of online fraud does impact the election, its impact is relatively small. The
primary goal of these schemers is to steal “from” the election. But others are thinking bigger. A
short-term monetary gain doesn’t interest them. They want to actually steal the election.

37 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – September 2016 Edition
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