Small businesses are under attack with fake Google Reviews demanding cash. Here’s how scammers target contractors, movers, and repair shops and what you can do to protect your reputation.
Sora 2: The AI video tool that’s already out of control
Hawking - @DrClownPhD on X, JFK - @dailysopranosofficial on TikTok, Mr. Rogers and Tupac - @itsthegthang and @euphanasiamusic on Instagram
I have to tell you about Sora 2. It’s OpenAI’s new video-generating app that’s both mind-blowing and terrifying.
It’s the first tool from any AI company that lets you give it a prompt, and in literally seconds, you get a full-blown, AI-generated video up to a minute long. The results aren’t perfect, but they’re close. Like Hollywood close.
The lighting, camera motion, facial expressions, it’s all shockingly realistic.
Want to see a golden retriever surfing through Times Square in slow motion? Done. A drone shot of a city being built out of clouds? Easy.
🎭 Dead celebrities
People are using Sora 2 to generate fake videos of dead celebrities doing things they never did.
- JFK is deepfaked into a WWE superstar.
👉 Watch it on TikTok - Tupac appears with Mr. Rogers talking about respect.
👉 Watch it on Instagram - Stephen Hawking is attacked in the UFC. Warning: I knew this was all AI, but it was still upsetting to watch. Weird, right?
👉 Watch it on X - Even Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is shoplifting GPUs from Target.
👉 Watch it on Instagram
I’m sure you know that under U.S. law, “defaming” someone only applies to living people, not the dead. That means families and estates have no legal recourse when someone uses AI to humiliate or misrepresent their loved one. It’s a free-for-all right now, and no one’s accountable.
Even creepier?
Sora is also being used for stalking and impersonation. All it takes is a photo, and you can make a video of anyone doing anything. Fake crimes, revenge content, political lies, it’s all possible. I have a warning about that and a fix for you in tomorrow’s newsletter.
😱 Zero guardrails
OpenAI says you need permission to use a person’s face or voice. Yea, like that’s going to stop someone.
Scams are an underground industry
Midjourney
You already know the usual scams. Romance, crypto, tech support, job offers, fake investments, and the list goes on. But what you might not realize is that a growing number of people behind these scams aren’t evil masterminds.
🔫 Home invasion, Apple edition: This is scary. A Florida couple got ambushed in their garage at gunpoint after suspects taped an AirTag under their car to track them. Two men have been arrested, facing charges from armed burglary to kidnapping. So yeah, maybe check your car before your next Target run.
📦 Santa’s little workforce: Amazon’s hiring 250,000 U.S. workers for the holidays, nearly half of the nation’s entire seasonal workforce. Competitors like Target and Kohl’s are keeping quiet, maybe because they’re not hiring much at all. Average pay? Up to $23 an hour. If you’re interested, apply before the jobs are all scooped up.
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⚠️ Pop goes the malware: You’re scrolling the web when, bam, a pop-up says you need to “verify your identity.” Nope. That’s not security, that’s a scam called ClickFix. The NSA says these fake pop-ups now target iPhones and Androids, tricking you into clicking, copying or pasting your way into malware. If you see one, just close everything. Save yourself the clicks and tears.
🥬 Lettuce be honest: Amazon just mashed its Happy Belly and Fresh brands into one new budget line: Amazon Grocery. I’m talking 1,000+ items under $5, like produce, meat, snacks, you name it. Kroger, Walmart, Target and Costco stocks all dipped at the news. Bezos started with your bookshelf, then your front porch, and now he’s crawling into your fridge. Chips happened.
We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.
AI is stealing your photos off social media
AI is scraping billions of selfies from social media to train facial recognition. Bots target unmarked photos, but a simple watermark can protect your images. Here’s what you need to know.
📱 Bars from space: So Elon Musk wants Starlink to be your phone provider. Instead of towers, satellites beam calls straight to your pocket. Texts are working now for some. Starlink just locked down spectrum rights from Globalstar, the same radio lanes carriers use. Verizon’s sweating, FCC’s nervous, and you might finally get service in that one Target parking lot black hole.
🚀 Golden Dome race: Varda Space nailed a capsule reentry (paywall link) in Australia, on target at hypersonic speed. Sounds nerdy, but here’s the point: The U.S. is funding a “missile shield” against future threats, and tech startups are competing to build it. Translation: Silicon Valley is shifting from dating apps to defense contracts.
🫣 Ops oopsy: We’ve all replied to the wrong group text. Awkward, sure. But ICE agents took “reply all” to a whole new level. While tracking a deportation target, they accidentally added a random civilian to their official group chat. That one mistake spilled DMV records, license plate scans and even an unredacted operations worksheet, all through unencrypted texts. The kicker? The civilian thought it was just spam and ignored it for weeks. If ICE accidentally looped me in, I’d send them a Venmo request for “data protection consulting fees.”
⚠️ Crypto vultures circling: The FBI says scammers are dressing up as lawyers to target people already burned by crypto fraud. They dangle “fund recovery” promises, then demand up-front crypto or gift cards. Victims get dumped into staged WhatsApp groups with fake bankers before losing even more money. These guys make MLMs look like charity work.
🚨 Watch out for this clever phishing scam that hooks you: Hackers are slipping the Japanese character “ん” (pronounced like a soft “n” and called a hiragana) into legitimate website URLs, replacing a normal slash “/.” To the naked eye, it looks normal, but click, and you’re headed straight to a malware buffet. This works because “ん” is part of Unicode, so browsers treat it as a valid web address character. Even pros can miss it at first glance. Bonus scam: fake “Intuit” emails where the “i” is swapped for a lowercase “L.” Your eyesight is the target, so always hover over links and check the real domain before you click.
Free airport Wi-Fi is a trap
So you’re checking email before your flight? Bad move. Scammers could be stealing your data. In this episode of The Current, my AI employee George and I dig into the latest tricks thieves use to target travelers.
Confession: I Zillow people
Everyone’s a Zillow stalker now. Then I talk to Julie from California who wants to know if the $300 in her Cash App is real or a scam. Plus, what makes your house a burglar’s target and the missing Jeffery Epstein footage. Don’t miss it!
🧨 Fission accomplished: This is bad. Communist China hackers used a SharePoint flaw to target 400+ orgs, including the U.S. nuke agency (NNSA). Microsoft says the exploit hit agencies in the U.S., EU, Middle East and more. They say no classified files were stolen since the backdoor’s been open since July 7. Yea, right.
Price match, expired: Target’s pulling the plug on price matching Amazon and Walmart as of July 28. So if you were banking on a retroactive refund after spotting your air fryer cheaper elsewhere, this is your final week. The company says it’s staying “competitive,” but more shoppers are clicking to cart elsewhere.
If you’re a podcaster, you’re now a target: A scammer impersonating “The Bill Simmons Podcast” almost took over Magic Singh’s socials using a fake interview setup. They even tricked his management. The red flag? A “test call” that ended with a sketchy dude asking for Facebook Business access. Nope.
Confession time: I Zillow people — July 12th, Hour 2
Everyone’s a Zillow stalker now. Then I talk to Julie from California who wants to know if the $300 in her Cash App is real or a scam. Plus, what makes your house a burglar’s target and the missing Jeffery Epstein footage. Don’t miss it!
Protect your privacy without lifting a finger: Tired of your personal data floating around online? Incogni scrubs it from data brokers and people-search sites. With my exclusive link, get 60% off unlimited plans. Choose which sites to target, and take back your privacy today!