📧 Fake SSA emails: Scammers are sending messages saying, “Your Social Security Statement is now available.” Click download, and you’ll install a remote access tool called ScreenConnect that gives them full control of your computer. Banking info, passwords, everything goes bye-bye. Reminder: The real SSA will never ask you to download random files.
Grandma got played, but not by bingo
Let me tell you a true story that’ll shake you and hopefully protect someone you love from heartbreak or a well-rehearsed scam call.
It happened to a 90-year-old grandmother in Nashville. She picked up the phone because that’s what she’s always done. On the other end was a young woman, her voice trembling, the connection staticky. “Grandma, help! I was in a car accident. I need you to talk to a lawyer right now.”
Her granddaughter Amanda had just graduated from Auburn University. The voice? Familiar enough, especially with the poor signal. And Amanda calling from an emergency? Of course, Grandma was going to listen.
Next comes the ‘lawyer’
He said Amanda needed $6,000 immediately or she could end up in serious legal trouble. So the woman did what any terrified grandmother might do … she complied. She went to the bank and withdrew the cash.
An “errand person” came to her house and picked up the money. Yes, you read that right. Someone came to her front door. That’s how elaborate this scam was.
But later that night, something gnawed at her. She called the number again and said, “I want to talk to my granddaughter.” The scammer hung up. That’s when she dialed the real Amanda and realized the heartbreaking truth.
The good news
Amanda was OK. Her voice was deepfaked by the scammers. The bad news was Grandma was scammed out of $6,000. Lied to. Manipulated. Her family was furious, not at the scammer, but at her.
She said her daughters made her feel embarrassed, even ashamed, she fell for such a scam. That might be the worst part of this entire story.
Let me say this loud and clear: It is not her fault. This wasn’t a mistake, it was a targeted heist. A well-rehearsed act designed to prey on love and urgency.
You need to do this
Star Wars drops in Fortnite
A new animated series “Tales of the Underworld” is premiering in Fortnite. Yes, like inside the actual video game. It airs tomorrow, May 2 at 10 AM ET, two days before Disney+ gets it. Of course, there’s in-game merch for kids to buy. The trailer doesn’t look too bad.
$150 billion
How much IBM plans to invest in the U.S. over the next five years. Some of the money’s going into research and development for their mainframes and quantum computers (paywall link). Not bad for a company that’s been around for 114 years.
Know this about LinkedIn: The best days to post are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Aim for early mornings (around 8-10 a.m.) or around lunch (12-1 p.m.) in your local time zone to capture the most engagement. Use my special link to post a job for free on LinkedIn.
👀 Maybe a blindness cure: This is amazing! Scientists just figured out how to reverse retinal damage by blocking a protein that stops our eyes from healing themselves. The tech is still in early trials, but human tests could start by 2028, giving new hope to millions with glaucoma, macular degeneration and other vision loss. Btw, it’s been almost two years since my corneal transplant. It didn’t heal exactly the way I hoped because initially I had 20/20 vision. But hey, I’ll take it: 20/100 vision is a whole lot better than 20/400!
🗻 Double rescue on Mount Fuji: A 27-year-old had to be saved twice in just four days trying to scale the mountain. Yep, twice. First, he lost his crampons (those spiky things for walking on ice) and couldn’t climb down. Rescuers got him back to the parking lot. There, he realized he did not have his phone. So he hiked back up to find his phone and got altitude sickness. Maybe just take the L next time, dude.
Scammers are deepfaking finance pros: They’re posting videos impersonating experts like Abby Joseph Cohen, promising to make you rich fast. All you have to do? Join their WhatsApp group for “undervalued” stock tips. Please don’t. Anytime a complete stranger promises you wealth or love and wants to use WhatsApp for a conversation, that is a major scam red flag.
$74,000
That’s how much a guy has made renting out his yard. His secret? An app called Neighbor, which connects people who need parking or storage with folks who have extra space. He has about 21 spots for things like RVs, boats and buses, renting for anywhere between $90 and $200 a month. BRB, measuring my driveway.
🕯️ Lights out: Spain and Portugal got power-washed into the 1800s on Monday. The entire grid collapsed in 3.5 seconds, and power was out across entire countries for several hours. Spain’s thinking the massive blackout is sabotage. Some blame Russia. Others say freak weather. Either way, lights are back, but answers are not.
🤖 Llama mia: Meta just launched a stand-alone AI app (iOS, Android) to compete against ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Claude and all the others. It’s the same chatbot you’ve used inside Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp, built on their Llama model. I’ll report back after I’ve used it for a bit.
186 mph
That’s how fast a 22-year-old YouTuber was clocked on a highway. The helmet-cam footage of him speeding on a Connecticut highway at nearly 3x the speed limit went viral but also got him arrested for reckless driving. He’s since been released on a $5K bond, and grounded by the internet.
Tariff relief? More like tariff thief. If you spot ads on Facebook for things like a $750 “tariff relief credit,” don’t click on them (paywall link). These bogus posts trick you into filling out forms or calling a number that steals your info. Everywhere you turn, there’s another scam.
🛒 Amazon carts get heavier: Thanks to new tariffs on Chinese imports, Amazon sellers have jacked up prices on nearly 1,000 products by an average of almost 30%. The White House is blasting Amazon for planning to add a “tariff cost” display price to products affected. Your $14 impulse buy just became a $27 mistake.
2,700
That’s how many parts are inside an iPhone, sourced from 28 countries. Less than 5% are made in the U.S., and most of the rest come from Asia. Only 30 out of 187 suppliers have no presence in China. “Designed in California” is different when the screws are from four continents.
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🛸 This is space-cial: The James Webb Space Telescope picked up traces of dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide 124 light-years away, gases that, on Earth, only come from microorganisms like phytoplankton. The catch? It could also be from some chemical process we just don’t understand yet. Cue the X-Files theme.
🖥️ Own a Copilot Plus PC? Microsoft’s finally rolling out Recall, the controversial feature that snaps everything you do on your Windows PC (including those embarrassing things) so you can search your “memories” later. Windows Search also now lets you find stuff just by describing it instead of remembering exact file names. I went Mac and never went back.
🌡️ Google’s cutting off old Nest Thermostats: Support ends on Oct. 25 for any you purchased in 2011 or 2012. You won’t be able to control it from your phone or Google Assistant anymore. You’ll have to adjust the temperature the old-fashioned way, by hand. Looking for an upgrade? The 4th gen (2024) is on sale.
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🛏️ Fluffing the case: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s lawyer filed a court brief written by AI with nearly 30 fake legal citations. He blamed “paraphrasing” before admitting he didn’t fact-check at all. File this under absolutely not how you want your court case to go.