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Don’t Get Scammed Buying a Prom Dress Online: How to Spot Fake Websites Prom season is a busy time for high school students and parents. It’s also a busy time for scammers. The Better Business Bureau recently sent out an alert — including one covered by 101.5 WPDH — warning shoppers in the Hudson Valley about fake prom dress websites that take your money and deliver nothing, or a cheap knock‑off that looks nothing like the photo. ...

1 in 3 Americans Have Been Scammed Online Shopping: Here’s How to Avoid It If you’ve ever bought something online that never arrived, or paid for a product that turned out to be counterfeit, you’re not alone. According to a 2025 Pew Research Center survey, roughly one in three American adults (35 percent) say they have experienced an online shopping scam. That number is high enough that most of us either know someone affected or have been affected ourselves. And with more people buying through social media ads, unfamiliar websites, and peer‑to‑peer marketplaces, the risk isn’t going away. This article explains the most common scams and what you can do to avoid them. ...

Your Productivity Chrome Extension Could Be a Backdoor: What to Do Browser extensions promise convenience: a grammar checker, a password manager, a tab organizer, or even a simple screenshot tool. But behind that helpful icon, some extensions hide capabilities far beyond their advertised function. For enterprise users, the risk is especially high — a seemingly harmless extension can become a pipeline into company accounts, data, and networks. ...

How to Avoid Online Shopping Scams: 1 in 3 Americans Have Been Hit If you’ve ever bought something online that never arrived—or worse, handed over your card details to a site that turned out to be fake—you’re not alone. ...

Google Quietly Removed Chrome’s Privacy Promise for On-Device AI – What You Can Do If you use Chrome, a small but significant privacy assurance just vanished. Google recently deleted language from its Chrome help pages that explicitly promised on‑device AI features would not send your data back to Google. The change was first reported by Decrypt and later covered by Yahoo Tech. This article explains what was removed, why it matters, and how you can adjust your settings to stay in control of your data. ...

That Productivity Extension Might Be a Security Risk: What to Check Before Installing Installing a Chrome extension to help with scheduling, grammar checks, or PDF editing is routine for most office workers. They seem harmless—small add-ons that save time. But recent investigations have shown that some of these tools are being used as entry points into corporate networks. A backdoored extension can quietly read everything you type, capture credentials, or even deploy ransomware. This isn’t theoretical: the FBI is currently investigating a sophisticated hack of its own surveillance system, and compromised browser extensions are part of the picture. ...

Chrome Quietly Removed Its Privacy Promise for On-Device AI: What It Means for You In early May 2026, several news outlets noticed something that had quietly changed in Google Chrome’s documentation. The privacy promise that on-device AI features do not send data to Google servers had been removed. If you use Chrome’s built-in AI tools—things like smart tab grouping, writing assistance, or image generation—you may now be sharing your browsing habits with Google more than you expected. ...

How to Spot Malicious Chrome Extensions Disguised as Productivity Tools If you use Chrome for work or daily tasks, you probably have a handful of extensions installed. A grammar checker, a screenshot tool, a PDF merger, a password manager. They save time, but they also open a direct line into your browser—and by extension, into your accounts, your data, and sometimes your employer’s network. ...

1 in 3 Americans Has Been Scammed Online Shopping — Here’s How to Avoid It If you’ve ever bought something online that never arrived, or paid for a “deal” that turned out to be fake, you’re far from alone. New data from Pew Research Center, published in November 2025, found that about a third of Americans (34%) say they have experienced an online shopping scam. As holiday shopping ramps up, that number is likely to climb. Understanding the most common tricks—and knowing a few simple precautions—can make the difference between a successful purchase and a costly mistake. ...

Is That Productivity Chrome Extension Safe? Here’s How to Spot a Backdoor Browser extensions have become a staple of modern productivity. Grammarly, LastPass, Honey, and countless others promise to save time, manage passwords, or find discounts. But as these tools grow more powerful, they also grow more attractive to attackers. Recent investigations show that seemingly benign “productivity” extensions can hide backdoors that exfiltrate credentials, inject ads, or give attackers remote control of your browser. ...