Trump’s tariffs jolted the market so badly a conspiratorial scam briefly turned real

Meme investors are hyping the Iraqi dinar, riffing on a decades-old scam, as the currency's value (very, very modestly) increased against the U.S. dollar.

Now, it is ironically being touted as the hottest new investment.

The predominantly sarcastic posts advocating for others to invest in the Iraqi dinar point to the dinar going up 0.00002 cents against the U.S. dollar today, marking its highest point since December 2020.

However, the change is due to the U.S. dollar dropping in value, not the Iraqi dinar improving.

Many currencies such as the Euro, British pound, Japanese yen, and more have all seen similar jumps in the wake of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff plan, set to affect nearly every country and territory worldwide.

But that hasn't stopped meme-pilled posters from pushing the foreign currency investment.

The ironic posts are a callback to the Iraqi dinar scam, in which investors—some of whom were Trump supporters who years ago misinterpreted a comment he made about trade imbalances—bought hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars worth of Iraqi dinar in hopes that eventually the Iraqi government will somehow revalue the currency, making its worth surge.

The revaluation scam began shortly after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, when the currency's value plummeted.

Ever since, speculators have turned to dinar brokers (many of whom were later convicted of fraud) and loopholes on platforms like Etsy to purchase a currency that remains all but worthless outside of Iraq.

But as tariffs rocked the world market, the dinar finally improved.

"It’s happening. #patriotsincontrol," wrote one poster on Thursday, who shared an image showing the slight uptick.

"the Iraqi Century has begun," concluded one commenter.

"You laugh, but if you bought 1 million dinar you just made $20," remarked someone else.

"I've been waiting for this for decades," posted another user.

"Finally, im gonna be balling like a mofo," echoed someone else.

"BUY IRAQI DINAR NOW THIS IS FINANCIAL ADVICE," posted one person.

"Iraqi Dinar resurgence now, thoughts?" joked another shitposter.

But while the posts are mostly ironic, from those who likely don't own dinars, Trump may have made some of his most conspiracy-pilled fans a buck or two. If they cashed out.

Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.