Sorry, there’s no allowance card; that Dr. Phil ad is bogus

"All these seniors have to do is sign up and then get their allowance card," Dr. Phil appears to say in a video in a recent Facebook post. At least until you look more closely and realize the audio isn’t quite tracking with the video.

"It’s like a $3,300 allowance card for free," the voice that’s supposed to be Phil McGraw, the host of the TV show "Dr. Phil," says. "They’re using it to buy groceries at stores like Walmart, pay for prescriptions, pay their rent, all sorts of things. It literally takes 30 seconds to fill out this questionnaire. I don’t understand why more seniors aren’t doing it. It’s really helping a lot of seniors who need this help. The spots are filling up so they just need to click the link and do it now to reap the benefits before deadlines are announced."   

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

A spokesperson for the "Dr. Phil" show told us this isn’t really McGraw talking. The show footage featured in the video comes from an episode about online dating scams. 

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stated on March 18, 2024 in a Facebook post

Image shows a Princess Kate “stunt double.”

"This is 100% not real and he does not/did not endorse this," said Jerry Sharell, vice president of communications for "Dr. Phil."

Clicking a link in the post that says "2023 senior benefits program" leads to a website — us-relief.org — advertising that "Americans are now able to claim their free $3,500 allowance card thanks to a new benefit passed by Congress." But this site isn’t affiliated with the government, and we found no evidence of such a benefit. 

Clicking on the link on the page that says "claim yours now" leads to a dead page. 

We rate claims that McGraw endorsed this allowance card False.