That's not true. I live in Europe(Germany) and I as well as everyone I know personally says "America" when we mean "the USA" and mean "the USA" when we say "America".

That’s brand awareness right there. We got em.

I visited Germany a few years ago and I can confirm that they called me “The American” and referred to the US as America. My colleagues explanation was “There’s Romanians, from Romania. There’s Hungarians from Hungary. There’s Americans from America.” I laughed a bit when he said it.

The term "US American" is also common, e.g. in media to refer to the nationality of a gold medal winner.