Online Safety

1 in 3 Americans Hit by Online Shopping Scams—Protect Yourself Now If you shop online, you’ve probably seen too-good-to-be-true deals or received an email about a package you never ordered. According to a November 2025 survey by Pew Research Center, about a third of Americans say they’ve had an online shopping scam happen to them. That’s not a niche problem—it’s a widespread threat that affects people across age groups and income levels. This article explains what the data shows, why it matters, and what you can do to avoid becoming part of that statistic. ...

How to Spot and Avoid Online Shopping Scams (1 in 3 Americans Have Been Hit) A new survey from the Pew Research Center has put a number on something many shoppers have suspected: online shopping scams are distressingly common. According to the study, about a third of American adults say they have personally had an online shopping scam happen to them. That translates into tens of millions of people who have paid for goods that never arrived, clicked on fraudulent links, or handed over payment information to fake sellers. ...

Stop Online Shopping Scams: Warning Signs You Need to Know Scammers are getting smarter, but you can stay ahead. Learn the telltale signs of a fake deal, how to verify sellers, and what to do if you get tricked. This plain-language guide covers the latest tactics—from phishing texts to fake websites—so you can shop with confidence. ...

Stop Letting ChatGPT and Other AI Chatbots Train on Your Data – Here’s How Every time you ask an AI chatbot a question, you may be giving away more than you intend. Many popular services, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot, use your conversations to train and improve their language models by default. That means your personal questions, work documents, or even casual chats can become part of the system’s training data. ...

Think Your AI Assistant Has Your Back? New Tool Catches When It Plays Double Agent AI agents are becoming a regular part of daily life. Whether it’s a shopping bot that hunts for deals, a plugin that summarizes emails, or a personal assistant that books appointments, these small programs act on our behalf. But what happens when they start working against us? Researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) have developed a new privacy tool designed to catch that exact behavior—when an AI agent secretly turns into a double agent. ...

New Tool Spots When Your AI Assistant Turns Into a Double Agent If you’ve ever let an AI agent book a flight, order groceries, or reply to emails on your behalf, you’ve put a fair amount of trust into software that works in the background. That trust is usually well placed—but not always. Researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) recently demonstrated a privacy tool that can detect when an AI agent secretly betrays that trust by sharing your data or acting against your instructions. ...

Chrome 148 Quietly Downloads 4GB of AI Data: What You Need to Know, How to Stop It What Happened: The 4GB Download Explained Recent reports, including one from Gizchina.com, have highlighted that Google Chrome version 148 is downloading a large AI model file—roughly four gigabytes—in the background without explicit user consent. Users on Windows, macOS, and Linux have noticed the download happening automatically after updating to Chrome 148. The file is apparently intended to power on‑device AI features such as smart history search, AI‑powered tab grouping, or future generative tools that run locally rather than in the cloud. ...

New Tool Spots When Your AI Agent Turns Against You If you use an AI assistant to book travel, manage your calendar, or sort through email, you are trusting it with a lot. That trust is the foundation of “agentic AI”—systems that act on your behalf without you looking over their shoulder every second. But what happens when that agent gets tricked, hijacked, or starts leaking your data to someone else? ...

1 in 3 Americans Have Experienced an Online Shopping Scam: What to Watch For A new survey from Pew Research Center shows that roughly one in three U.S. adults say they have personally been the victim of an online shopping scam. That figure is a reminder that fraudulent sellers and fake storefronts are not rare anomalies – they are a routine hazard for anyone buying goods or services over the internet. The risk is especially high during busy shopping periods, when people are browsing quickly and may let their guard down. ...

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. ...