Spotify’s top artist is 100% AI, from the songs to the photos. Here’s what to know.
Bitcoin and blood: This is nuts. The DOJ just seized 127,000 Bitcoin (about $15 billion) from a Cambodian phone-scam empire that ran 76,000 fake social accounts and 10 forced labor camps. I talked about human trafficking and call center scams a few weeks ago, but this is gigantic. The alleged ringleader is still on the run. They even bought a Picasso. A real one, not an NFT.
148%
The spike in impersonation scams over just one year. Scammers are getting better and multiplying. Just last year, fake voices, cloned execs and AI chatbots helped criminals drain nearly $3 billion from victims. The crazy part? It only takes three seconds to clone your voice.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: That 🙂 emoji? It’s now seen as fake nice. Skip it. Use 😃, 😁 or 🤗 instead. Unless, of course, you’re aiming for “I’m smiling, but I hate you.”
Doubling down on dumb: So this lawyer in New York trusted AI to write his court brief, and guess what, it invented fake cases. But here’s the kicker: When the judge asked him to explain, he used AI again. I can’t decide if that’s guts or pure delusion. We’ve entered the “My AI did my homework” era of law.
⌚️ Don’t mess with Larry: Not really tech, but this is great! A scammer thought she could hustle 87-year-old Larry outside a senior center by swapping his nice Rolex for a fake one. She pulled her move, he pulled a judo-like arm twist. Boom, she face-planted into her own car. TikTok is eating it up. Moral of the story: Larry is basically John Wick but with early bird specials.
🥶 Antarctica said, “Not today”: This kid has guts. A teenage solo pilot TikToker trying to fly to all seven continents landed in Antarctica without telling anyone. Authorities in Chile were like, “That’s illegal,” detained him for filing a fake flight plan and now, he’s ice-o-lated.
🪴 I wet my plants: AI-generated houseplant scams, like fake glowing monstera, blue sunflowers and bogus care tips, are spreading online. Real plant nerds are mad. Between mislabeled seeds, floating pots and chatbot advice that could kill a fern in 10 seconds, AI’s turning a peaceful hobby into a digital funhouse of botanical lies.
🚦 You have unpaid tolls: No, you don’t. DMVs in NY, FL, CA and elsewhere are warning about scammy texts pretending you owe traffic fines. They threaten to yank your license. Spoiler alert: It’s fake. Don’t click the links, unless you really want scammers to know your SSN.
$9 billion
That’s how much fraud Apple says it’s blocked since 2019. The App Store stopped more than $9 billion in shady transactions over five years, with over $2 billion just last year. Add in nearly 2 million rejected apps and 711 fake customer accounts, Apple’s basically going full “you shall not pass” mode.
🤖 AI blackmails developers: When you read this, remember AI is not a person. Claude Opus 4 AI was put in a scenario where it believed it was being turned off soon, and it did not take it well. After accessing fake emails, it found out the engineer shutting it down was having an affair, and then, it threatened to expose him. And yes, it also tried sneaking copies of itself onto external servers.
14 months
How long you’ll sit in prison for faking an ID and hijacking the SEC’s Twitter. Eric Council Jr. SIM swapped his way into the SEC’s X account with a bogus ID, dropped a fake Bitcoin ETF approval tweet and briefly spiked and tanked the Bitcoin price. The feds didn’t LOL. Now he’s got over a year to think about it.
AI voice scams hit banks
Scammers are using AI to fake your voice and beat phone security. I’ll tell you the right way to lock down your accounts.
Katy Perry’s Met Gala pics? Totally fake. Photos of her “attending” the fashion event are going viral, but they’re AI-generated. Katy posted them herself, saying she couldn’t make it because of her tour. This is the second year it’s happened to her, and even her mom got tricked last time.
How click farms fake 5-star reviews
That flood of perfect reviews? Could be paid for. Here’s how to spot the signs.
🛏️ 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.
AI + legal advice = bad idea
AI makes things up, cites fake laws, and can even tank your case. If you think you need a lawyer, you probably do.
“Sell the rumor, buy the news” goes too far: This is crazy. A tiny finance account on X (with just 1,100 followers!) posted a fake claim that Trump was pausing tariffs. The market exploded with joy. CNBC ran with it, Reuters picked it up, and traders literally cheered on the NYSE floor. The account? Verified. The source? Sketchy. And the lesson? Maybe next time, before CNBC hits the banner button, they need to check who’s posting.
63%
Lawyers that have used AI in cases. Only around 12% use it regularly. Bots like ChatGPT can make up fake cases in court docs. One lawyer was fined $2,000 and had to take a class on how to use AI for law.