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How to Spot and Avoid Online Shopping Scams: A Shopper’s Guide Online shopping offers convenience and often better prices, but it also attracts scammers looking to separate you from your money or personal information. Fraudulent websites, phony deals, and phishing emails are common, and they can target anyone. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has published guidance to help consumers, including veterans, watch out for scams and stay safe while online shopping. The advice applies broadly. Here’s what you need to know. ...

1 in 3 Americans Have Experienced an Online Shopping Scam — Here’s How to Spot One Before You Lose Money The numbers are hard to ignore. In November 2025, the Pew Research Center reported that about a third of Americans say they’ve had an online shopping scam happen to them. For a country where nearly everyone buys something online at least a few times a year, that means millions of people have lost money, had their personal data stolen, or both. ...

Online shopping scams in 2026: What to watch for and how to protect yourself Buying things online has never been more convenient—or more risky. According to a January 2026 warning from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA News), scammers are using increasingly sophisticated tactics to trick shoppers. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report, released earlier this year, showed that online shopping scams accounted for over $350 million in losses nationally, with the average victim losing $1,200. And those numbers are likely underreported. ...

A third of Americans have faced an online shopping scam — here’s how to avoid being next If you’ve ever bought something online that never arrived, or paid a seller who vanished after taking your money, you’re not alone. A Pew Research Center survey from November 2025 found that about a third of U.S. adults say they have experienced an online shopping scam. The figure is striking, especially as holiday shopping ramps up and more people turn to social media platforms and payment apps to make purchases. This guide explains what the data shows, why it matters for everyday shoppers, and — most importantly — how to reduce your chances of being the next victim. ...

Chrome Quietly Drops Privacy Promise for Its On-Device AI – What You Need to Know If you use Chrome, you might want to check your settings. In early May 2026, Google removed a long-standing privacy claim from Chrome’s support pages: the statement that its on-device AI “does not send any data to Google servers.” Multiple outlets, including Decrypt, Yahoo Tech, and GIGAZINE, confirmed the change. At the same time, Chrome has been quietly installing a roughly 4 GB AI model on Windows, macOS, and Linux systems—and it puts the model back even if you delete it manually. ...

How to Spot and Avoid Online Shopping Scams: Advice from VA and Federal Agencies Online shopping offers convenience, but it also attracts scammers looking to steal your money or personal information. The Department of Veterans Affairs has published multiple alerts warning veterans and their families about common shopping scams and how to stay safe. This article draws on those official sources and similar guidance from the FDIC to give you practical, actionable steps. ...

Chrome Quietly Removed Its Privacy Promise for On-Device AI — What You Need to Know If you use Chrome and have started noticing a new AI feature—like suggested replies or automated text rewriting—you might have assumed it works entirely on your device. Google previously said exactly that. But recently, without any announcement, the company deleted that privacy promise from its support pages. This article explains what changed, why it matters, and how you can protect yourself. ...

Online Shopping Scams Are Getting Smarter – Here’s How to Stay Safe If you’ve shopped online in the past year, you’ve probably noticed deals that seem too good to be true. Some of them are. According to recent warnings from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Federal Trade Commission, online shopping scams are becoming more sophisticated and harder to spot. Veterans and military families are especially targeted, but anyone with a credit card can be caught off guard. ...

One in Three Americans Has Fallen for an Online Shopping Scam: Here’s How to Stay Safe A new survey from the Pew Research Center, published in November 2025, sheds light on a problem many of us have suspected: online shopping scams are widespread. Roughly one in three American adults say they have personally experienced an online shopping scam. That figure is not just a statistic—it reflects millions of real losses, ranging from a few dollars for a product that never arrived to significant financial damage from stolen payment information. ...

Chrome Quietly Drops Privacy Promise for On-Device AI – What You Need to Know If you use Google Chrome, you might have noticed a new section in settings labeled “AI.” Over the past few months, Google has been rolling out on-device AI features like “Help me write” and “Tab compare.” The company originally stated clearly that these features process everything locally, without sending data to Google’s servers. That explicit promise has now disappeared, and several news outlets reported the change in early May 2026. ...