When Danny Brandt picked up an older man in his cab on Wednesday outside a hotel in downtown Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, he thought the passenger was just another visitor.
Dressed in casual clothes and carrying a stack of papers, the man seemed friendly enough and identified himself in an American accent as Cliff from Las Vegas.
Then he made an intriguing proposal.
“Do you want to earn $200,000?” he asked, according to Mr. Brandt. All he, or any Greenlander, had to do was sign a petition he held in his hand to join the United States.
“No, thanks,” Mr. Brandt responded before dropping him off at another hotel a few minutes later. Then he called the police, who told The New York Times that officers have begun investigating.
The offer might seem ridiculous and futile. Most Greenlanders have indicated they have zero interest in becoming Americans. But the proposal has created a stir in Nuuk because of President Trump’s repeated threats to annex the isle and the recent accusations of covert American activity in Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
Police officials in Greenland remain tight-lipped but said the case could be connected to the “current political situation.”
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Greenland’s prime minister, has also weighed in.
“Our future is not negotiated in a taxi,” he said on Facebook. “That’s not how you treat a people. And that’s not how you talk about a country.”
Ever since Mr. Trump threatened last year to “get” Greenland, “one way or the other,” Greenlanders have been suspended in a state of worry. Any activity from insistent Americans raises some alarms.
Mr. Brandt said he was unsettled when he saw a sheet of paper in his passenger’s hands with “big letters whether Greenland wanted to be part of the USA.”
“Now, I’m no expert on North America,” said Mr. Brandt, 34, who for the past five years has been driving a taxi and working on a fishing trawler.
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But, he added, “I’ve heard many things about poverty” in the United States and was “very against” joining the country.
According to Greenlandic media, the same man approached other people with a similar offer. Pictures of him circulating on social media show him wearing a dark suit and talking to several Greenlanders with a clipboard in his hands. Another picture shows him speaking to two police officers.
On Friday afternoon, Sermitsiaq, a Greenlandic newspaper, published an interview it had conducted with the man, who identified himself as Clifford Stanley, 86. Mr. Stanley told the paper he was working on his own — not at the behest of the Trump administration — and was trying to “investigate support for the United States’ taking over Greenland.”
“I’m trying to give the Greenlandic people an opportunity,” he told the newspaper. “It’s up to the people themselves. It’s not my choice.”
The Times obtained an email address for the man, but he did not respond to multiple queries.
Under an arrangement with Denmark, Greenland has the right to become independent, a status it would need before joining any other country. But independence is a touchy subject and not likely to happen anytime soon.
The process would involve the Greenlandic government, the Danish parliament and ultimately a referendum by the Greenlandic people. It’s not clear how Mr. Stanley’s petition drive fits into any of those requirements.
The Trump administration has remained open about its desire to take over Greenland, even if Mr. Trump’s attention for the moment has been on the Middle East. Mr. Trump’s allies have been traveling around the island, looking to make friends and business deals.
Last year, Danish authorities branded the actions of three Americans connected to Mr. Trump as a “covert influence operations” even though the men, like Mr. Stanley, were open about what they were trying to do.
It’s also not clear how Mr. Stanley came up with that $200,000 figure. He told the Greenlandic newspaper that it wouldn’t be his money, but it would come from the United States, possibly even with the help of Middle Eastern allies. Each year, Denmark pays more than half a billion dollars in subsides to Greenland.
Officials in the Trump administration have suggested that the United States could make six-figure payments to Greenlanders to win them over. Greenlandic and Danish officials said that would be offensive.
Jeffrey Gettleman is an international correspondent based in London covering global events. He has worked for The Times for more than 20 years.
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