Consumer Protection

How to Protect Your Finances When Your Bank or Debt Collector Uses Insecure Email If you’ve been contacted by a debt collector, a mortgage administrator, or even your own bank via email, you might assume the message is secure. Recent reporting suggests that’s not always a safe assumption. A June 2026 article in NL Times highlighted that many financial administrators handling sensitive cases—especially those involving people in debt or financial difficulty—are using email systems with weak security. That puts vulnerable individuals at greater risk of phishing, identity theft, and fraud. ...

How to Spot Fake Emails From Debt Collectors and Protect Your Finances If you’ve ever dealt with a debt collector, a financial administrator, or a company that manages your payments, you’ve probably received emails about your accounts. These messages can feel urgent, sometimes even threatening. But behind that urgency is a growing security problem: many of these institutions still use weak email protections, making their customers easy targets for scammers. ...

One in Three Americans Has Fallen for an Online Shopping Scam: How to Protect Yourself If you shop online regularly, you’ve probably heard the warnings: don’t click suspicious links, avoid deals that seem too good to be true, use a credit card instead of a debit card. But despite those caveats, the problem persists—and recent data shows just how many people are affected. ...

Why Judges Are Banning AI Tools in Court—and What It Means for Your Privacy In recent months, a growing number of federal and state judges have issued orders specifically barring the use of artificial intelligence tools—particularly large language models like ChatGPT—during the discovery phase of litigation. These bans are not about hype or fear of technology; they stem from concrete privacy and confidentiality risks that arise when sensitive legal documents are fed into cloud-based AI systems. While the rulings target the legal profession, the underlying concerns apply to anyone who uses AI note-takers, summarizers, or document-review tools for work or personal matters. ...

Why judges are banning AI in courtrooms — and what it means for your privacy If you use an AI notetaker during meetings or rely on a voice assistant to record your thoughts, a recent development in U.S. courtrooms might give you pause. Over the past few months, several judges have issued public orders restricting the use of artificial intelligence tools during the discovery phase of litigation. Their reasoning? Privacy risks that many users of consumer AI tools may not fully appreciate. ...

Judges Are Banning AI in Court Discovery Over Privacy Risks — Here’s What You Need to Know In recent months, a small but growing number of judges have issued public orders barring the use of artificial intelligence tools during the discovery phase of litigation. The reason isn’t just technical—it’s rooted in core privacy and ethical concerns. These rulings signal a shift in how courts view AI’s role in handling sensitive information, and they carry implications far beyond the courtroom. ...

Spot Online Shopping Scams Before They Cost You Money Online shopping has become second nature for most of us. A few clicks, a payment, and a package arrives days later. But that convenience also attracts scammers. Fake stores, phishing emails, and social media ads that look legitimate are circulating more than ever. In January 2026, the VA News published a government-backed reminder that shoppers need to stay alert. Their article, titled “Watch out for scams and stay safe while online shopping,” underscores that these threats aren’t rare—they’re persistent and evolving. Knowing what to look for can save you money and personal information. ...

How to Spot and Avoid Online Shopping Scams: Tips from the VA and FTC Online shopping is convenient, but it also attracts fraudsters. Every year, especially during tax season and the holidays, reports of scams spike. The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Trade Commission regularly update their guidance to help people—particularly veterans and military families—protect themselves. Knowing what to watch for can save you money and personal information. ...

Why the Source of AI Training Data Is a Growing Privacy Risk for You If you have used a generative AI tool like ChatGPT or a popular image generator, you may have wondered where the software got its knowledge. Increasingly, that question is not just technical curiosity — it is becoming a central legal and privacy issue. ...

A Third of Americans Have Been Scammed While Shopping Online. Here’s How to Stay Safe If you’ve ever clicked “Buy Now” on a deal that seemed too good to be true—and later realized you paid for nothing—you are far from alone. A 2025 Pew Research Center survey found that about one in three U.S. adults have experienced an online shopping scam. That’s roughly 33 percent of the country. The number is a stark reminder that digital convenience comes with a real, and growing, risk. ...