The Trump phone was never a serious phone. Not when it was announced last June, in dodgy renders and with an incoherent spec sheet. Nor when Trump Mobile admitted — just two weeks later — that it wouldn’t be made in the US. Not even when the company revealed the final phone, first to me over a video call in February and then to the world in April through a short commercial with the slick sheen of AI.
Technology
Top scams targeting our military heroes and how to avoid them
Cyberscammers are some of the most heartless people out there. They don’t even spare our military heroes.
Last year, these criminals stole $477 million from veterans, military personnel and their spouses, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). That’s a $63 million jump from 2022, showing that the military community is a big target for scammers. The number of military members who lost money to these attacks went up by 7% to 30,948, per the FTC’s latest data.
These scammers use all kinds of tricks to get veterans to hand over personal info or hard-earned cash, including veterans’ benefit scams and IRS scams. I break down five of the most common scams targeting our military heroes and how to stay safe from them.
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Image of military personnel (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Romance scams
Romance scams have become an increasingly painful reality for veterans, as scammers target them through fake online relationships to exploit their emotions and financial stability. Often, these scammers pose as attractive, understanding individuals on dating apps, social media platforms or even support forums specifically tailored for veterans. They’ll build a relationship over weeks or months, using flattery and fabricated stories to create a strong emotional connection with their target.
Once the scammer believes they’ve gained enough trust, they’ll ask for money, typically by inventing a sudden, urgent situation. It might be a “medical emergency,” a supposed travel expense to come to visit or even a claim that they need help with a legal matter. The requests start small but can quickly escalate as the scammer continues to manipulate the victim’s emotions.
This continues to be the most common fraud targeting veterans, costing them and their families over $40 million in 2020, according to Aura. Among all romance scam victims, those ages 50-69 were hit the hardest, losing $179.65 million in just the first three quarters of 2022. That figure has almost certainly surged in 2024.
Image of military personnel supporting one another (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
NEARLY 1 MILLION MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES FACE DATA BREACH
Veterans benefit scams
Some scammers pretend to offer help with veterans’ benefits. They promise to help increase benefits or expedite claims, but they’re really after personal information or a fee. A scammer might claim you’re eligible for new or additional benefits, contacting you by phone, email or text. When dealing with unsolicited advice, remember that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
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Phishing scams from fake government agencies
Phishing scams are a social engineering trick where scammers send emails that look like they’re from official places, like the government or your bank. These legit-looking emails act as bait, but the real goal is to grab your banking or credit card info.
Sometimes, these scam emails will ask you to click a link or download an attachment, which can install malware on your device. Scammers are also known to send phishing links through LinkedIn, Facebook or other social media.
One classic example is the IRS scam. Though it targets everyone, military members are prime targets. Scammers pretend to be IRS agents, threatening jail time, fines or other penalties if they don’t get immediate payment. They even spoof IRS caller IDs to make their calls look real.
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Rental property scams
Rental property scams are a common way scammers try to exploit people looking for a place to rent. In these scams, fraudsters often post fake listings for apartments or houses on popular rental websites or social media platforms. The listing might look too good to be true, like a beautiful place at an unbelievably low price.
The scammer will usually claim to be out of town or unavailable to meet in person, asking potential renters to send a deposit or rent payment upfront to “secure” the property. In some cases, they may even send fake lease agreements or claim that the property is already rented, but they can still “help” find a similar place.
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Car sales and financing scams
Car sales and financing scams targeting veterans are unfortunately common. Scammers know that veterans may have limited experience with certain financial deals, so they exploit that by offering unrealistic car sales or financing options. These scams can take various forms, and the result is often financial loss and stress.
Image of military personnel honoring our troops (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
6 ways veterans can protect themselves from scams
1) Be cautious with unsolicited offers: Whether it’s a phone call, email or text, if someone claims to offer help with veterans’ benefits or promises something too good to be true, don’t take the bait. Verify the legitimacy of any offer directly through official channels like the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or trusted veteran organizations.
2) Watch out for emotional manipulation in online relationships: Romance scammers often prey on veterans’ emotions. Avoid sharing personal or financial details with people you meet online, especially if the relationship feels rushed or too perfect. If someone asks for money after just a few weeks or months, it’s likely a scam.
3) Verify government communications: Scammers often impersonate government agencies like the IRS or VA. If you get a message that threatens penalties or asks for personal information, don’t respond. Instead, contact the agency directly using official contact details to confirm whether the message is legitimate.
4) Be skeptical of rental or car sale deals that seem too good to be true: If a rental listing or car sale seems too cheap or perfect to be true, it probably is. Always visit the property or dealership in person, and never send money upfront without seeing the product or having a signed agreement.
5) Protect your personal information: Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown sources. Scammers use phishing emails and fake websites to steal personal and financial information. Ensure your devices have updated security software and be extra cautious when handling sensitive data online.
The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have antivirus software installed on all your devices. Get my picks for the best 2024 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices.
6) Invest in data removal services: Consider using data removal services to protect your personal information from being harvested by scammers. These services can help remove your data from public databases and people-search websites, reducing the risk of identity theft and unwanted solicitations. Check out my top picks for data removal services here.
Kurt’s key takeaway
Scammers rely on misinformation to trick you. However, by staying informed and being extra careful when navigating the internet, you can stay safe. These bad actors are constantly finding new ways to target veterans, from romance scams to fake government offers. Being cautious, verifying offers and keeping your data secure are the best ways to avoid falling victim to these heartless fraudsters.
Do you think more needs to be done to protect military personnel from these types of scams? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.
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A flyer offering “free athletic shoes from VA” may look official at first glance. It uses VA-style branding, talks about health and wellness and even lists the MyVA phone number. That is what makes it so dangerous.
VA says the message falsely claims Veterans can receive free athletic shoes from VA. The agency says the promotion did not come from VA and has no connection to any official VA program.
The scam appears to be spreading through a flyer and online posts. It tells Veterans they may be eligible for free athletic shoes “at no cost to you.” It also shows popular shoe brands, steps to “redeem” shoes and a process that appears to involve a VA provider.
That may be enough to get someone to click, call, share or forward before they stop to think.
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Veterans are being warned not to click links, scan QR codes or share personal information tied to a fake VA shoe offer. (Kira Hofmann/picture alliance via Getty Images)
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Fake VA shoe offer: what VA says
VA says the free athletic shoe promotion is fake. It did not come from an official VA program, including VPRs, Central Office or Whole Health.
That is important because the flyer borrows the look and feel of a trusted government agency. It also uses health language to make the offer sound like a wellness benefit.
But let’s be real here. A free pair of shoes can sound harmless until the next step asks for your personal details.
Why the fake VA shoe flyer looks so believable
This scam works because it mixes familiar names with an official-looking design. The flyer uses VA branding, a health-focused message and well-known athletic shoe brands.
It also presents the offer as a benefit. That can make people feel like they may miss out if they do not act.
Scammers know that veterans and families often deal with a lot of paperwork, benefit updates and health care messages. A fake flyer can slide into that confusion and feel more believable than it should.
How scammers use real VA details to build trust
One sneaky detail stands out. The flyer lists the MyVA number, but that alone does not make the flyer real.
Scammers often mix real information with fake offers. A real phone number, real logo or familiar agency name can make people lower their guard.
That is why you should verify the offer through VA.gov, your official VA account or your local VA facility before responding.
What the fake VA shoe offer could steal
The flyer may look like it is only about shoes. The bigger risk comes next.
A fake offer like this could lead to a phishing page, a bogus form, a QR code trap or someone asking for sensitive details. That could include your Social Security number, VA login information, health information, address, bank details or credit card number.
Scammers may also use the information to target you again. Once they know you responded to a fake VA offer, they may try a follow-up call, text or email.
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A fake flyer claiming Veterans can get free athletic shoes from VA is spreading online, but the agency says it is not tied to any official program. (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)
What to do if you see the fake VA shoe offer
Do not share it. Do not forward it. Do not fill out a form. Do not scan any code connected to it.
Also, do not provide personal, financial or health information because of this flyer.
Instead, warn veterans, family members and colleagues without spreading the image. A quick heads-up can help someone avoid a costly mistake.
Ways to stay safe from VA scams
A few smart habits can help you spot fake VA messages before they turn into a bigger problem.
1) Verify the offer through VA.gov
Go directly to VA.gov or use your official VA account. Do not rely on a flyer, social media post, text message or forwarded image.
2) Do not scan QR codes or click links
A scam flyer may send you to a fake website that looks official. Type the web address yourself or search for the VA page directly.
3) Never share VA login details
Do not give anyone your VA.gov username, password or sign-in code. VA says it will not ask you to share login credentials in an email.
4) Protect personal and health information
Treat your Social Security number, address, date of birth, medical information and benefits details as sensitive. A free offer should never require that kind of information from a random form.
QR CODE EMAIL SCAM TARGETS EMPLOYEE REVIEWS
VA says veterans should verify suspicious benefit offers through VA.gov, an official VA account or a local VA facility. (Antonio Diaz / Getty Images)
5) Call VA using a trusted number
If you have questions, contact VA through an official phone number, the VA website or your local VA facility. Do not trust contact details from a suspicious flyer alone.
6) Report the fake VA shoe offer
Veterans who suspect fraud can report it through VSAFE.gov or call 1-833-38V-SAFE. Reports help VA and other agencies track scams that target veterans.
7) Use strong antivirus protection
Strong antivirus software can help protect you if you click a bad link, scan a risky QR code or land on a fake website tied to a scam. Good protection can block malicious pages, warn you about suspicious downloads and help stop malware before it does damage. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at Cyberguy.com.
8) Consider a data removal service
Scammers often use personal details found online to make fake offers feel more believable. A data removal service can help reduce how much of your information is sitting on people-search sites, including your address, phone number and other details that can be used to target you. Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting CyberGuy.com.
9) Take action fast if you responded
If you already clicked, scanned, called or shared information, change your VA.gov password right away. Use a trusted password manager to create and store a strong, unique password you do not use anywhere else. Turn on multifactor authentication if you have not already done that. Then watch your accounts for suspicious activity.
10) Warn others without forwarding the flyer
Tell family members, friends and veteran groups that the offer is fake, but do not send the flyer along with your warning. Even if your goal is to help, someone else may miss your warning, save the image or share it again. Instead, send a short message that says the free VA shoe offer is a scam and tell them to verify any VA benefit through VA.gov or their local VA facility.
Kurt’s key takeaways
A free pair of shoes can make you drop your guard, especially when the flyer uses VA branding and familiar shoe names. That is the whole trick. Scammers are using trust to push veterans and families toward a bad link, a fake form or a request for personal info. Slow down and verify it through VA.gov or your local VA facility. And if you want to warn someone, send them a message saying the offer is fake instead of forwarding the flyer itself. That keeps the scam from spreading.
Would this fake VA shoe offer have made you pause, or would the official-looking design have fooled you? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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It’s now on sale for $499, past the days of its tenuous, ever-shifting release dates. A few buyers even have the phone, The Verge among them, though more still seem not to.
It’s clear now that the T1 is a real phone, but that doesn’t mean it’s a serious one. Still, for the next thousand words or so, I will try to take it seriously.
$499
The Good
- It actually exists
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- MicroSD card slot
- It basically runs stock Android
A serious phone wouldn’t look like this
The T1 Phone is a curved slab of cheap gold plastic, the smartphone equivalent of a pair of knockoff wraparound Oakleys. The gold finish — more yellow in certain light, though it certainly does shine and shimmer — is tacky in every sense, with a sticky friction that makes it feel distinctly unpleasant to the touch. My phone arrived with a tiny scratch in the top-right corner.
The phone is fairly thin, and light, but its excessively curved waterfall display feels immediately dated. It also loses one of the chief advantages of that design — better in-hand feel — thanks to the oddly angular frame, which juts into my palm as I hold it.
Almost every detail speaks to bad design. There’s the American flag logo, missing a stripe. The fact that “Trump Mobile” appears on the back twice, in two different orientations and two different fonts. Or the camera module, where the three lenses are spaced at irregular intervals.
There are things to like. The 3.5mm headphone jack will have its fans, as will the microSD card slot inside the phone, or the fact that the phone ships with a case, charger, and braided USB cable. These are things that a certain type of Android fan has lamented the absence of for years.
I, for one, am more excited to be reviewing a phone with a notification light again, a true treat that I thought we’d lost forever. It’s a glimpse of a better world, one I didn’t expect from Trump Mobile of all companies. But like the curved screen, even these welcome touches betray that this is a dated, old-fashioned phone, one based on an old HTC design that already felt like a throwback two years ago.
A serious phone would work outside the US
I live in the UK, meaning I may well have the only Trump phone outside of North America. It cannot maintain any signal stronger than 2G, meaning I can use it for texts and calls but not for data. As best as I can tell from digging through the T1’s FCC certification documents, the phone simply doesn’t support the network bands commonly used in Europe.
The T1 Phone isn’t sold in Europe, and that misshapen flag makes its target market clear. But even Americans get to go on vacation every once in a while. From my experience, it seems unlikely that the T1 would work anywhere in Europe and perhaps not anywhere in the world outside North America.
A serious phone would use more than the minimum hardware
At first glance, the T1’s spec sheet might seem impressive enough: a 120Hz OLED screen, a 5,000mAh battery, a triple rear camera with 50-megapixel sensors.
But the truth is you could find similar specs on almost any $200 Android phone and superior ones on phones sold at this price. Hardware like this is cheap and commodified, something that’s only beginning to change thanks to the ongoing memory crisis. Here, amusingly, the T1 is generously specced: 512GB of storage and 12GB of RAM come as standard. Those, along with the inclusion of wireless charging, are the only things that really stand out on this spec sheet.
Despite all that RAM, and Qualcomm’s modestly capable Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset, the T1 is often sluggish. It sometimes stutters when switching apps or triggering animations, making even basic apps like Duolingo frustrating to use. This hardware isn’t flagship, but it should certainly be more capable than this. I can only assume Trump Mobile didn’t develop the sort of software and firmware performance optimizations that other manufacturers do, handicapping the phone from the start.
1/16
I suspect the camera’s limitations are for similar reasons. The three rear lenses and single selfie camera take basic, functional photos, at least in good light — with the exception of the 8-megapixel ultrawide, which is uniformly poor.
Other phone manufacturers spend millions optimizing their image pipelines, and none of that work is evident here. Daylight photos are vivid and oversaturated, nighttime shots are noisy, and the telephoto shows no signs of electronic stabilization at all, making it feel shaky and unstable. Incredibly, by default every shot is overlaid with a strangely small T1 watermark — as if anyone should want to take credit for these photos.
1/12
A serious phone would have made more effort in its software
As the Trump phone lurched haltingly toward its launch, the going assumption from many was that it would be a bloated mess, loaded with spyware, crypto apps, and MAGA-themed experiences, putting the president’s leering face front and center.
The truth is rather more mundane. It runs Android — the nearly two-year-old Android 15, to be precise — with almost no modifications at all. This is, in fact, about as close to what the nerds call “stock” Android as you’re ever likely to get these days.
The only preinstalled apps that are out of the ordinary are Truth Social, Trump’s own social media network, and Doctegrity, a telehealth platform that’s included with Trump Mobile’s $47.45 cell service. Beyond that you get a single Trump Mobile wallpaper and those photo watermarks, and that really is that.
In a sense, that’s a good thing — I’m hardly lamenting the lack of bloatware. But there’s also no sign that Trump Mobile has the ability or the intent to optimize its phone’s software or deliver any features beyond the minimum.
More worryingly, Trump Mobile hasn’t announced how long it will support the phone with software updates. When I spoke to executives from the company in February, they seemed confused by my question about how many Android version updates the phone would receive, though they did insist that customers won’t “be locked into what’s there today.” For now, that means a 2024 version of Android with a February 2026 security patch; I wouldn’t hold my breath for either to be updated any time soon.
A serious company would put more effort in
In a strange way, the T1 Phone isn’t all that terrible, but only because it proves how hard it actually is to make a truly terrible phone these days. It’s easy enough to throw together the baseline hardware, stick Android on top, and call it a day. For better or worse, that’s more or less exactly what Trump Mobile has done. Between the simple software and the dated hardware features, the T1 is an oddly compelling phone for some old-school Android fans, but Trump Mobile got there entirely by mistake.
This isn’t a serious phone. It’s a marketing stunt that got out of hand, a way to grab attention and juice the subscriber count for an overpriced cell service with the president’s name on it.
Trump Mobile doesn’t care about this phone. And after the year of reporting on it that’s led to this review, I’m thrilled to finally say: Neither should you.
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