📬 Did someone forward this to you?Sign up here. Tomorrow: Your driver’s license shares way more than it should. Every time you flash it at a bar, hotel or store, strangers can see your home address and more. I’ll show you how Apple Wallet’s digital ID can share only what’s needed and keep the rest private.
Welcome to Thursday, friend.If you’ve ever waved at your own house on Google Street View, this one’s for you. Today’s Deep Dive starts with a scammer using a photo of your house, which isn’t the HGTV moment anyone wanted.
But before we get practical, let’s tour the one home that makes every Zillow listing look emotionally stable. This Victorian mansion has 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 47 staircases and windows that stare into other rooms.
🏚️ Which house is it? A) Hearst Castle in San Simeon, B) The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, C) The Hollywood Sign House or D) The one the HOA gave up on? No peeking, the answer is lounging dramatically at the end.
Quick favor before we dive in. It helps you and me both. Every time you click a link in this newsletter, your email provider takes note and figures out I belong in your inbox, not buried in promotions. Think of it as training your digital mailman. Here’s an easy place to start. Tap here to subscribe to my YouTube channel in one click. You get my favorite tech tips on video. I get a gold star from the algorithm. Win-win. Now let’s get back to it. — Kim
TODAY’S DEEP DIVE
Home sweet threat
Image: ChatGPT/Kim Komando
🤯 WOW! The email starts with a photo of your house. It names you, names your street and demands $1,950 in Bitcoin. The photo came from Google Street View. And your name, address and email came from a people-search site that sells them for a few dollars.
📖 Read time: 2.5 minutes
You open an email, and the first thing you see is your own front door. This scam is spreading faster than ever.
Then your full name. Your street. A line that says, “Is visiting [your address] a more convenient way to contact if you don’t take action? Nice location btw.” Then the pitch: They’ve been watching you through your webcam, they have video, but $1,950 in Bitcoin by tomorrow makes it go away. There’s a QR code to pay.
Security reporter Brian Krebs flagged the pattern in September 2024. It never stopped, because it works. Last week, the FBI put a number on the bigger family of “we know where you live” scams: 61,000 complaints, $1.6 billion lost.
🏠 How they got your house
Nobody hacked anything. Here’s the recipe.
Step 1: A leaked email list. An online breach of a business compromises customer data.
Step 2: A people-search site. Type an email or a name into one of those “find anyone” pages, and you get a home address, age, relatives, sometimes the spouse’s name. Costs a few dollars, or nothing.
Step 3: A map site. AI pastes the address into Google Maps, screenshots Street View, drops it in an email and personalizes it.
That’s the whole trick. The photo feels like proof. It’s a Google search. Take a breath. Nobody is parked outside your house.
With AI’s help, scammers can crank out personalized bogus mails by the thousands in seconds. Literally.
🧹 Make yourself a worse target
Don’t reply, don’t pay, don’t scan the QR code. Paying confirms you’ll pay. Report it at ic3.gov. Five minutes, and the FBI reads them.
Blur your house. Open Google Maps, find your address, click the Street View photo, then report a problem in the bottom corner. Pick “my home” and submit. Google blurs it. The catch? Once you blur your home, you cannot unblur it. I blurred my own house years ago. Zero regrets.
Cut off the supply. Scammers start by buying your address from a data broker. You can send removal requests to over 400 of these sites yourself. Good luck with that. And you’ll have to repeat the process every few months when they put you back on the list. Or you can have it done for you.
👀 Free scan shows what’s out there about you
Incogni offers you a free exposure scan, which takes one email address and no account. In about a minute, it shows you which people-search sites are selling your name, phone, date of birth, home address and the names of the people you live with.
That’s the same list the guy with the Street View photo shopped from. Don’t guess. Look.
Image: Kim Komando
Then make it stop. I tested this myself. That’s my dashboard above. Since I signed up, Incogni has sent 3,014 removal requests on my behalf. Not three. Not 30. More than 3,000, and 157 more are already scheduled, because the brokers relist you. Incogni goes right back at them. Look at the chart, the line never flattens.
That’s what it takes to stay off these sites, and it’s why nobody keeps up by hand. Incogni says that’s 2,112 hours of my life I didn’t spend filling opt-out forms. I believe it.
🕵️ Badge check required: The FBI may need to prove it’s really the FBI. Hackers claim they breached a third-party vendor and collected personal information and contact details covering every bureau employee. That puts workers and their families at risk, while giving scammers better material for convincing impersonations. The FBI hasn’t confirmed the claim, so don’t panic. But if someone flashes credentials over the phone, I’m calling an official field office before discussing money, records or anything personal.
Chill, interrupted: Your refrigerator can ruin dinner without even breaking a compressor. Samsung’s AI-powered fridges reportedly went down after a bad software update froze their touchscreens, locking owners out while groceries spoiled inside. Imagine paying $2,000 for an appliance that becomes an oversize cooler because routine maintenance went sideways. I don’t know about you, but my lettuce doesn’t need technical support. Check for manual controls, warranty coverage and rollback options before buying anything smart enough to update itself.
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Ring in the profits: Wear an Oura ring? The company is going public at up to $44 a share, valuing it around $15.6 billion. The numbers are wild: 3.6 million rings sold last year, 5 million paying members, revenue up 74% to $1.21 billion. The Ring 5 costs $399, plus $5.99 a month. That membership’s the real business. People get hooked after three to six months of sleep tracking. Somebody stole my mood ring. I’m not sure how I feel about it.
🧾 It’s audit-matic: Well, this might make you want to check that box of receipts. The IRS is using algorithms to help choose audit targets, including small businesses and gig workers. It went from using 10 AI systems in 2022 to 126 by mid-2025, including 65 it won’t publicly describe. They can automatically flag sudden increases in deductions or a missing form. Save receipts as you go and match every 1099. Suddenly, paperwork feels uncomfortably personal. What’s the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist only takes your skin.
🎤 PODCAST: THE KIM KOMANDO SHOW
Chatbot writing has a tell
(Starts at 40:45) AI-written content is hiding in plain sight. We got the four signs that reveal what’s real and what’s fake.
Click your favorite podcast player below to listen now or later:
🎧 Or search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.
DEVICE ADVICE
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Ever had your earbuds lag or one side go quiet? Pop both into their charging case, making sure each sits in its correct slot. Close the lid, wait at least 15 seconds, then take them out. This can clear connection hiccups with AirPods, Raycons and Galaxy Buds. I’d try that before digging out the receipt.
☕ Coffee runs stay on track: Google Maps lets you ask Gemini for a stop without leaving navigation. Tap the Gemini icon and say, “Find a coffee shop along my route that adds less than five minutes.” Pick a suggestion, then ask follow-ups like “Does it have bagels?” Much easier than asking everyone to “keep an eye out.”
🔴 The badge that won’t quit: Seeing a red dot on iPhone Settings asking you to “Activate iCloud Storage,” despite having plenty of space? You’re not alone. Tapping the alert opens an upgrade screen without clearing the notification. For a possible fix, try Settings > your name > Media & Purchases > Sign Out, then sign back in. Over to you, Apple.
🖥️ Screens aren’t windows: Folks, put the glass cleaner down. Harsh detergents can damage coatings, and paper towels can scratch. Turn off smudgy TVs, tablets, laptops and phones, and wipe them with a soft, lightly damp microfiber cloth. Super stubborn marks? Use a screen-safe cleaner kit. We’re removing fingerprints, not taking the display with them.
📸 A little veto power on Facebook: You can approve tagged posts before they appear on your profile. Go to Settings > Profile and tagging and turn on Review posts you’re tagged in before the post appears on your profile. That reunion photo needs your say-so. Lovely seeing everyone. Less lovely being caught halfway through a sandwich.
🤝 One link, plenty of ways to help: If someone you know is having a tough time, 211.org can help them find local support with food, housing, utility bills, transportation and health care. They can enter their address or dial 211 to speak with a specialist. It’s free. Bookmark it, so you can offer somewhere to turn when words aren’t enough.
KIM’S DAILY DEALS
As an Amazon Associate, some links pay us a commission at no extra cost to you. Keeps this newsletter free. Thank you.
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🎤 PODCAST: THE CURRENT POWERED BY KIM KOMANDO
The fake CO alarm knocking on your door
My niece Danielle bought carbon monoxide detectors through online AI ads. One of them blared a fake 4 a.m. emergency warning that her family’s air was combustible. Even though they were fine. She shares her wild story with us and what to check before you buy one for yourself.
That “voicemail” sitting on your calendar? It may be phishing dressed up like an appointment.
Scammers send fake invites with a “Click Here to Listen” link, and tapping Yes, No or Maybe can confirm your address is alive.
The invite may even come from a real hacked account (school district, dentist’s office, etc.), turning your calendar into a tiny Trojan horse.
Google Calendar: Go to calendar.google.com, click the gear, then Settings > General > Event settings. Set Add invitations to my calendar to Only if the sender is known.
Gmail: Open the email, click the three dots, then Report phishing and block the sender.
Mac: Go to System Settings > Siri > Siri Suggestions & Privacy > Mail and turn off suggestions, so Siri stops offering to add scam events.
Why did the scam invite get declined? It didn’t have a good date with reality.
🎓 What you learned today: Scam emails can weaponize Street View photos of your house, Google Maps can blur your home for good, the IRS is using more algorithms to flag audits, Oura’s real business is the sleep-tracking subscription, and fake calendar invites can turn your schedule into a phishing trap.Buying a drink should not require handing over enough personal info for a background check. Tomorrow, I’ll show you how your iPhone can help prove who you are without revealing your whole life story.
✅ Answer: B) The Winchester Mystery House. Yep. Sarah Winchester, widow of the rifle fortune, started building in 1884 and didn’t stop for decades. The famous 44-step staircase climbs only 10 feet (she was 4 feet 10 with bad knees).
The doors to nowhere and stairs into the ceiling? Mostly courtesy of the 1906 earthquake, not spirits, though the tour guides prefer the spirits. It’s been open to the public since 1922 at 525 South Winchester Boulevard in San Jose, Calif., and you can walk it on Street View tonight without buying a ticket.
Why did the house go to the doctor? It had window pains.
☕ The first hour of your day belongs to you. Stop handing it to a screen. — Kim
Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily
🏆 THE KIM CHALLENGE:Forward this to ONE person who needs to hear it today. Pick the person who popped into your head while reading. You know who it is.
Companies and products denoted by an asterisk (*) within this publication are paid sponsors or advertisements. As an Amazon Associate, the publisher earns from qualifying purchases. Statements regarding products denoted by a double asterisk (**) have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration; such products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This newsletter is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, medical, or professional advice of any kind. Readers should consult with a qualified professional before making any decisions based on this content. The publisher disclaims all liability for any loss, damage, or injury resulting from the use of or reliance on the information contained herein.
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Keep a civil tongue.