Web traffic is dying, and now Google is putting AI answers at the top of its search results. What does this mean for your favorite websites? Plus, Uber’s new shuttle service, Tesla drivers ditch self-driving mode, and Jeff Bezos’ email etiquette.
New scam trick: Fake sites that look too good
Midjourney
Here’s the newest con in town: Scammers are using AI to clone legit websites, and they’re scary good at it. I’m talking about perfect logos, identical layouts, right down to the fonts and buttons.
The crazy part is that they spin these sites up in minutes. Then, they shove them to the top of Google, where you search for your bank, power company or even a government site. One wrong click, and boom, you’ve handed over your login, your info, your identity.
🚨 Spot the fakes
Want to outsmart these scammers? Slow down and study this list I put together for you. Note: Just so the bad links are not clickable, I used the word dot in the URL.
- Check for funky URLs: If your bank’s site is usually mybank(dot)com, don’t fall for mybɑnk(dot)com (that’s a Latin “a,” not an English one).
- Look for sneaky swaps: Lowercase L’s and capital I’s (l vs I) can look the same, but googIe(dot)com is not google(dot)com.
- Watch for extra words or dashes: If the site is verizon(dot)com, skip anything like verizon-help-login(dot)com or secure-verizon123(dot)net.
- Spot the weird endings: Real companies usually use .com or .org. Be suspicious of .click, .online, .xyz or .info tacked onto legit-looking names, like netflix-account-support(dot)xyz.
- Beware of doubled-up letters: Scammers repeat letters to fool your brain – amaazon(dot)com, netflfix(dot)com, paypaal(dot)com. If it looks off, it is.
- Ignore random security warnings in the URL: Some scam sites toss in words like “secure” or “SSL” to look official; for example, secure-update-google(dot)com. Nope.
- Check for missing letters: Typos cost you. Make sure you’re not clicking on instgram(dot)com or facbook-login(dot)com.
- Don’t trust subdomains: Scam links might start with something familiar such as amazon.fakeupdate(dot)com or wells-fargo.loginverify(dot)net. The real domain is at the end, check it.
🔖 Don’t trust Google search
Instead, build a bookmark list for your important accounts: your bank, credit card, cell provider, insurance, utilities, all of it. Open the real site once, click that little star in your browser, and save it. From then on, use your bookmarks, not search results.
Or use the official apps from the App Store or Google Play. You’ll never wonder if you’re logging into a trap.
🔥 These scams are spreading like wildfire. Use the icons below to share this important information with your family and friends, especially the ones who think the cloud is a weather report.
Your privacy restored
© Eduard Goricev | Dreamstime.com, © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.com
Ever Googled yourself and thought, “What the heck is that doing online?” Old addresses, phone numbers and even the car you drive are all out there. Worse, it’s probably on some sketchy people search site or buried in a mountain of search results.
🫠 Your AI chat’s in the wild: That chat convo you shared with a friend? It might be on Google now. Really. If you hit “Share” on a ChatGPT chat, it’s public and searchable. Thousands of personal exchanges, including trauma dumps and mental health stuff, are popping up in search results. Yikes.
🔙 Jump back to Google results on Mac: In Safari, if you’ve clicked through a bunch of links from a Google search, don’t tap the back button over and over. Instead, press Command + Option + S to snap right back to your most recent search results.
Remove yourself from the internet
Image: Midjourney
Michelle in Phoenix asks: “Hello, Kim, do you have recommendations for services that remove your phone number, home address off Google? My son is getting extremely harassing texts and vandalism at his home. We want to remove all our phone numbers and addresses from public viewing.”
How to spot a fake job
A few weekends ago on my national radio show, I shared an amazing gig that pays up to $65 an hour being an AI tutor. You’ll help the chatbot refine answers, prompts and images. Now my inbox is overflowing with people asking how to apply. Here are the sites to check out!
🍏 Turn Spotlight searches into shortcuts: Always using Spotlight on your iPhone to find the same apps? Save yourself the trouble. Just long-press the app in the search results, drag it out and drop it onto your Home Screen. It’s quicker than digging through your App Library every day.
⚠️ AI ate the home page: First, the good news. ChatGPT’s referrals to sites are way up (25x!) from zero. The bad news? Nearly 70% of Google searches now end in zero clicks to sites. It just doesn’t matter if you’re top of Google search results anymore. SEO used to be gold. Spoiler: I predicted this over two years ago and got laughed at.
⚠️ Crypto hackers get crafty: A hacker group called FreeDrain has built an entire phishing empire targeting desperate crypto users. They do it by poisoning search results with over 200K malicious links. Victims are lured by fake wallet support pages, asked for their seed phrases and drained faster than a Solana transaction. The heist? Already in the millions.
Browse control: Google’s SafeSearch filters out explicit content from search results. But it’s not on by default for anyone over 13. Open Search Settings, click SafeSearch and check the setting you want to turn on. Pro tip: If your teen uses Chrome, you can manage it through Google Family Link.
Malware alert: Skip the free file converters. You know those handy PDF-to-DOC or WebP-to-JPEG tools? Hackers are stuffing them with malware to steal your personal and financial info. They’re showing up in search results and ads. Play it safe: Stick to Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Office instead.
🔍 Google’s testing AI-only search results: The new AI Mode ditches the usual 10 blue links and instead lets Gemini 2.0 take over with web summaries, graphs and shopping data. Think of it as a bigger version of AI Overview, and yes, we all know how spot-on that is. It’s opt-in only for now through Google’s Search Labs, so you can ignore it … for now.
One curse word breaks AI: Sick of the crappy AI Overviews in your Google Search results? There’s an easy workaround: Add a swear word. Seriously, type “How do I factory reset my iPhone?” and you’ll get a generic blurb. Change it to “How do I f *ing factory reset my iPhone?” (without the asterisks) and you’ll get normal, clickable results. For an equally effective but less fun option, add -ai to the end of your search.
Hiring? 3 ways to find the most talented employees
© Fizkes | Dreamstime.com
Great people build great companies — and that doesn’t just include the CEO and upper management. You need talent from top to bottom if you’re going to have a successful organization.
If you own a business, you already know how hard it can be to find great employees. But it doesn’t have to be so difficult. Use LinkedIn to help fill open positions and find talented workers with ease. Here are a few ways every business owner can attract the talent they need.
How to remove yourself from US Search
Like it or not, your personal information is online for anyone to find. This can include your full name, address, phone number, police record, employment information and more. People search sites scrape this information from public records, court records, social media and other sources.
3 tricks to see if your passwords are being sold on the Dark Web
Hackers can make a ton of money by selling your private information on underground forums. It’s possible that your passwords are being sold on the Dark Web right now. That’s why you should run a cybersecurity check now and then.
Remove personal search results on Google
Got something online that you don’t want the whole world to see? Here’s what to do, in 60 seconds.
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