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How I stopped scammers cold
ChatGPT
“Kim, Lifelock has gotten so expensive. Do I even need it?” — Matt in Texas
I’ve been hearing this a lot, Matt. I agree, LifeLock is pricey. My bill was $239.88 a year. Now, I’m paying $62.64 a year, that’s a 74% savings! More about that later.
Yes, you really need a service to protect your identity, more so than ever before. Number one, there have been so many data breaches, just assume the scammers and thieves have all your personal data.
Add to that today’s AI tools make it super easy for someone to create fake documents, clone your voice and put you talking in a video.
No red flags
Throw away your assumptions that you’d somehow “know” if someone stole your identity. No sirens go off. You don’t get a text from a hacker whispering, “Gotcha.”
In reality, identity theft often happens in total silence every five seconds.
Like the retiree in Florida who lost $14,000 when a thief opened a credit card in his name and drained his credit line before the bill even showed up.
Then there’s Susan, who got a collection call for a $36,000 car loan she never took out. A thief used her name and driver’s license to snag a new SUV.
Another woman had $18,000 in loans taken out using her name. She never got an alert. Not from her bank, not from her credit monitoring service.
The dark side
You find out only when you try to do something boring, like apply for a loan, get a job or file taxes. By then, you’re already in financial Hunger Games with your name attached to debt, crimes or worse.
$41,000
That’s the retail price of a stolen Bobcat, and no, it’s not a house cat. These guys tried to snag it with a fake rental, a U-Haul and a $380 cash “deposit.” Too bad they didn’t know about the victim’s secret weapon: an Apple AirTag.
🍏 Apple owes you? Hurry up, sweet cakes. You’ve got until July 2 to claim your share of a $95 million settlement over Siri snooping accusations. If you owned a Siri device between 9/17/2014 and 12/31/2024, you could get up to $20 per device (max five). Look for an email titled “Lopez Voice Assistant Class Action Settlement” to submit a claim. Didn’t get one? Click New Claim. I’m getting $100.
🛠️ Hacker turned pitch guy: A Missouri man hacked a gym, dropped his membership to $1 and emailed the owner, offering “cybersecurity consulting” after proving he broke in. He also posted their camera feed on social. Not the sharpest guy. He now has plenty of time to work out in prison.
👀 A note about Google watching your texts: I told you about this yesterday, and the link worked for some people but not all. It’s surprisingly tricky to turn off Google’s Gemini AI text tracking. You’ve gotta manually yank its permissions. Think of it like breaking up with a clingy ex who still has a key. Head to gemini.google.com/apps and toggle the switch off for Phone, Messages, WhatsApp, etc. These might not pop up on your end, yet, but anticipate a rollout sometime before July 7.
AT&T’s $5K oops: Did your call logs hit the dark web? You might get paid for it. AT&T agreed to shell out $177M over two juicy data breaches, one from 2019, the other from 2024. You could snag up to $5K, but you’ve gotta prove actual losses. Notifications begin Aug. 4.
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Crypto-stealing selfie snatcher: Your camera roll might be your crypto wallet’s worst enemy. “SparkKitty” malware snuck into both Google and Apple app stores, scanned your photos and stole any crypto recovery phrases it found. Remember, never screenshot your seed phrase, and maybe don’t store your financial life next to brunch pics.
🕳️ Google reads your texts: They’re doing it again. Starting July 7, Google’s Gemini AI will tap into your Phone, Messages, WhatsApp and more, even if you’ve opted out of activity tracking. Google calls it “good news.” I found the secret steps to stop this nonsense here. Otherwise, your texts will be stored, scanned and possibly read by a human along with the things, up to and including being sold to who knows who. Not cool.
✈️ TSA greenlights digital IDs: Good news ahead of Apple’s iOS 26 update. It’ll let iPhone owners add a digital ID to Apple Wallet using their U.S. passport. You’ll be able to use it for domestic flights, but only at certain California airports (for now). And yes, you should still bring your physical ID, just in case. PSA: That’s not your Costco card.
📷 Alerts with context: Ring cameras can now use AI to describe what they see. Instead of “Living room: Motion detected,” you might get “A dog is tearing up paper towels on the rug.” The best part? It shows up as a phone notification, so there’s no need to open the video. Home Premium subscribers only ($20/month). At that point, just get a real security system.
37.4 terabytes
That’s how much junk data one IP got smacked with, in 45 seconds. Taking the crown as the largest cyberattack in history, the DDoS attack was so heavy, it could’ve streamed 10,000 HD movies simultaneously. Somehow, Cloudflare’s clients stayed online.
Deepfake dames on the loose: Award-winning actress Helen Mirren is warning fans after scammers used her name to send “charity” emails from drogogo91(at)gmail.com (Yes, really). She says, again, in all caps IT’S NOT HER. If you believe that 79-year-old Dame Helen’s emailing you about crypto, it’s time for you to get off the internet, forever.
💳 I’m not overdrawn, I’m under-deposited! FICO has two new types of scores that now include Buy Now, Pay Later loans. Lenders can now see that debt or your on-time payments. Just passing it along.
Windows 11 backup warning: Microsoft confirmed it automatically deletes System Restore points after 60 days. ICYDK: They’re like save buttons for your settings, letting you roll your PC back to a previous state when something goes wrong. The fix? Create one yourself every few weeks. Just search Create a restore point and follow the steps.
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Nearly 1,000
That’s how many ships a day are getting their GPS signals jammed near Iran’s coast (paywall link). It’s making navigation harder and riskier. It’s happening in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow but essential route that handles about 20% of the world’s oil.