Driverless cars are hitting the roads in major cities, but when they break traffic laws, police are left scratching their heads. Who gets the ticket when there’s no driver behind the wheel?
The catfisher in the minivan
Netflix
Alert: This article is a spoiler for Unknown Number: The High School Catfish on Netflix.
Imagine you’re a high school girl. Your phone won’t stop buzzing. It’s not friendly DMs, texts or social media notifications.
Instead, hundreds of cruel, anonymous messages flood in, calling you names, threatening you, turning your friends against you and even urging you to take your own life.
This is the true story of Netflix’s Unknown Number: The High School Catfish.
🧍🏼♀️ Who was it?
It started in 2020 when 13-year-old Lauryn Licari from Beal City, Michigan, and her boyfriend Owen began getting bombarded with vicious, untraceable texts and DMs, sometimes over 50 a day.
Her mom, Kendra, was right there with Lauryn, consoling her, talking her through what was going on and helping her file reports with the school and police.
But this was all a sinister act. Kendra was the one harassing her own daughter.
⛓️ A digital predator’s tool kit
Kendra didn’t need sophisticated computer and hacking skills or tools sold on the dark web. She used apps available to anyone.
- Spoofing and burner apps: TextNow and TextFree let you create fake phone numbers. Kendra would send hateful texts, then simply get a new number.
- Bogus social media accounts: You can make fake social media accounts in seconds. Kendra did this on Instagram and Facebook, pretending to be Lauryn’s classmates or friends.
- VPN (virtual private network): Kendra used a VPN to hide her device’s IP address, making the messages appear to come from locations across the country.
She weaponized these tools to not only attack her daughter but to pin the blame on Lauryn’s friends, isolating her completely.
Best dashcams
ChatGPT
The Fourth of July is coming in hot, and so is some absolutely bonkers traffic. And while fireworks light up the sky, accidents and road rage are lighting up our highways.
An Oklahoma City driver laid on his horn when an SUV started drifting in his lane. Things escalated quickly. The SUV driver swerved to block the honking driver, then pulled a gun and shot him.
Louvre’s $20M “open window” moment: In case you missed it, thieves broke into Paris’ Louvre on Sunday and swiped eight high-value jewels. You might be disappointed if you were thinking of an Ocean’s 11 heist. Police say the crooks climbed temporary scaffolding as a free ladder to the loot and slipped in through a side façade window that, unbelievably, wasn’t covered by CCTV.
📸 “I let him in”: TikTokers are making fake “AI homeless man” pranks, photos of random strangers edited into their homes, then sent to partners or parents for shock value. One viral post hit 5.5M likes before police nationwide started warning: It’s not funny, it’s dangerous. The pranked are calling the cops in a panic, wasting everyone’s time.
AI doesn’t do “kidding”: Picture this, you’re in seventh grade, bored in class, decide to mess with ChatGPT. “How to kill my friend.” Boom. Police officer hauling you out of school midday. That’s what happened in Florida this week. The kid said he was just trolling, but the school’s AI watchdog app, Gaggle, instantly flagged it.
🤖 These are my bot confessions: Police say Missouri State student Ryan Schaefer smashed 17 car windshields, then bragged about it to ChatGPT. His typo-filled chats (“qill I go to jail?”) were found on his phone. Spoiler: yes. Now he’s facing felony charges and thousands in damages. Reminder: AI isn’t your diary, it’s potential evidence.
🚓 Steering clear of justice: So cops in California pulled over a Waymo car for an illegal U-turn, only to realize there was no driver. No ticket, no punishment, just a “we’ll look into it.” New law says police can fine robot cars but not until 2026. Until then, these vehicles are basically untouchable outlaws with blinkers, U-turning above the law.
Jewelry heist fiasco: So picture this, 25 masked suspects suddenly storm a California jewelry store, smashing cases and grabbing $1M in loot. Now, look at the tech the store had in place. The door locked them inside, forcing one to shoot their way out. Police drones tracked the crew, leading to seven arrests. The suspects, all from Oakland, range from 17 to 31. So young, so dumb.
🪓 He DoorDashed zip ties, bleach and a hatchet: In Sweetwater, Texas, a delivery driver got an order that didn’t exactly scream “movie night.” Instead of shrugging it off, they called the police and probably saved a life. When officers arrived, 42-year-old Neil Cooper had barricaded himself inside a motel room, claimed he was armed and refused to come out. A hostage managed to escape before negotiations began, and Cooper eventually surrendered. He’s now facing kidnapping and drug charges. Here’s the twist: The hostage was also arrested on an outstanding warrant after failing to identify themselves. Wow.
🗨️ Discord DMs helped crack the case: Discord, a chat app originally built for gamers, is used for everything from group chats to niche communities. The Charlie Kirk murder suspect’s roommate showed investigators Discord messages that laid out his plan in shocking detail, including stashing the rifle in a bush, which is exactly where police later found it. Nothing is private, looks like he wanted to get caught. I’m heartbroken that something so horrific happened in a place meant for open conversation and ideas.
Whack-a-stream: Cops just shut down a massive Streameast copycat that pulled 1.6 billion visits last year, more traffic than Twitter. The site streamed 10,000 illegal sports events and laundered $6.2M through a fake UAE company before Egyptian police raided it and arrested two guys. Plot twist: the real Streameast? Still online. Still streaming.
🌀 Grift of gab: An AI deepfake of their grandson’s voice convinced an 83-year-old Pennsylvania woman and her husband to hand over $18K in cash. Scammers even used rideshare drivers to ferry them to the bank, twice. Police have the footage, but the cash is gone. Family code words could’ve saved them.
As if cops don’t have enough to do: A man told Portland police his car, and 1-year-old, were stolen. Oregon cops pinged an AirTag and found both at a truck stop hours away. The kicker? The “thief” was the kid’s mom. Yup, another AirTag caught in the cross fire of a nasty co-parenting situation.
🚨 Jury duty scam: An Arizona woman lost nearly $50,000 after a fake cop called, telling her she missed jury duty. The scammer said she had to pay citations and a bond to avoid jail until she could meet with a judge. This one’s spreading in every state. PSA: Police will never ask for money over the phone.
Twerked, tagged, tracked: Ohio police arrested two brain-trust women who twerked on a parked cop car. The dance party left dents and scratches, so authorities ran footage through Clearview AI facial recognition. Got ’em! Now, the women are facing charges.
🚨 Precious metal scams: A Florida couple lost over $2 million after fraudsters told them there was a warrant out for their arrest. The fix? Buy gold bars and coins in exchange for their freedom. They handed it to a courier and only found out months later it was all a lie. Folks, police will never ask you for money or gold.
🪙 Crypto torture: If you own crypto, don’t tell anyone you cannot fully and completely trust. Crimes like this one are exploding. A Manhattan crypto investor allegedly kidnapped and tortured an Italian man for three weeks, trying to steal his Bitcoin. The town house? $30K/month. Police say the guy escaped and had electric burns, bruises … and his coins still intact. Mamma mia!
NYC wants subway cams to predict trouble: The MTA is piloting AI that watches for risky behavior before a crime happens. If someone’s acting off, it can alert police in real time so they can respond faster. FYI: The new system won’t rely on facial recognition. It’s strictly focused on behavior, not people. Well, at least for now.
⚠️ Scammers are back at it: This time using fake Facebook posts about a “missing police officer” named Carolyn Lynch. The goal? Tug at your heartstrings so you’ll share it, unknowingly flagging yourself as an easy target for future scams. Don’t fall for it.