Consumer Protection

Shopping with AI? Here’s How to Protect Your Privacy (and What to Watch Out For) AI shopping tools have quietly become part of everyday online retail. Chatbots help you find products, recommendation engines suggest what to buy next, and virtual try-ons let you see how a jacket fits without leaving your couch. But as these tools spread, so do concerns about what happens to your personal data. A new survey from eMarketer confirms what many shoppers suspect: data privacy is the number one fear when using AI for shopping. This article explains the findings and offers practical steps you can take to protect yourself. ...

How to Protect Your Privacy When Using AI Shopping Tools If you’ve ever asked an AI chatbot for product recommendations or let a virtual assistant scan your inbox for order tracking, you’ve joined a rapidly growing group of shoppers. But that convenience comes with a catch. According to a recent eMarketer survey, data privacy is now the top fear among shoppers who use AI tools—outweighing concerns about accuracy, cost, or customer service. ...

1 in 3 Americans Hit by Online Shopping Scams: How to Shop Safely If you’ve ever clicked a link for a too-good-to-be-true deal and ended up with nothing but an empty bank account, you’re far from alone. New data from the Pew Research Center, released in November 2025, shows that roughly one in three U.S. adults have experienced an online shopping scam. That figure covers everything from phony websites that take your payment and vanish to phishing emails pretending to be from a retailer you trust. As holiday shopping ramps up and more people turn to their phones and laptops for purchases, understanding how these scams work—and how to avoid them—has become essential. ...

Your Biggest Fear About AI Shopping? Data Privacy – Here’s How to Protect Yourself If you’ve hesitated to use an AI shopping assistant because you weren’t sure how much of your personal data it would collect, you’re not alone. According to an eMarketer survey, data privacy is now shoppers’ biggest fear when it comes to AI-powered shopping tools. The finding underscores a growing tension between the convenience of personalized recommendations and the unease about how much information is being gathered behind the scenes. ...

The Fireflies.AI Lawsuit: What It Means for Your Privacy When Using AI Meeting Assistants AI meeting assistants like Fireflies.AI, Otter.ai, and others have become common tools for professionals who want automated transcription and summaries. They listen in, record, and process conversations. But a recent lawsuit against Fireflies.AI has raised questions about what these tools do with an even more personal type of data: your biometric information. ...

Scammed While Online Shopping? Here’s How to Get Your Money Back It happens more often than most people realize. You place an order on what looks like a legitimate website, pay with your card or digital wallet, and then nothing arrives. The seller stops responding, the site vanishes, or the product turns out to be counterfeit. The initial feeling is frustration, then worry about whether the money is gone for good. ...

How to Get Your Money Back After an Online Shopping Scam: Step-by-Step Guide You ordered something online—maybe a deal that seemed too good to pass up. The payment went through, but the item never arrived. When you tried to contact the seller, the number was disconnected. You’ve just been caught in an online shopping refund scam. ...

Got scammed while shopping online? Here’s how to get your money back The moment you realize an online purchase was a scam can feel like a punch in the gut. Money gone, item never arriving, and a sinking suspicion that you’ve been played. But here’s the part many shoppers don’t know: recovery is often possible if you act quickly and follow a clear process. A recent Moneycontrol article highlighted that victims can recover money using a “simple process,” but left out many of the practical details. This guide fills that gap with concrete steps you can take right now. ...

Got Scammed While Shopping Online? Here’s How to Get Your Money Back If you’ve been defrauded by a fake online store or a phony customer support call, you’re not alone. Reports of shopping-related scams have increased during major sale seasons, and many victims are later approached by refund scammers who pretend to help. The good news: legitimate recovery options exist, and you don’t need to pay anyone to use them. This article walks through the actual steps you can take. ...

One in Three Americans Has Been Scammed While Shopping Online: How to Stay Safe What Happened According to a November 2025 report from the Pew Research Center, about one in three U.S. adults say they have personally experienced an online shopping scam. That’s roughly 33% of Americans—a figure that underscores just how common these scams have become. The same survey found that younger adults, particularly those under 30, were even more likely to report being targeted, though no age group is immune. ...