🪤 Russia’s in your router

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📬 Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here. Tomorrow: That free casino app on your phone? It’s a trap. One player spent over $1 million and never won a dime back. I’ll show you exactly which apps to delete.

It’s Wednesday, {{first_name | friend}}. Humanity built the internet, landed rovers on Mars, and we still communicate mostly through tiny pictures. Somewhere between flirting, fake-laughing at work messages and sending “thoughts and prayers” via one tap, the global emoji rankings got shaken up. The old champ, 😂 (Face with Tears of Joy), was recently dethroned.

Guess what’s the most-used emoji on Earth today? A) 🫠 (Melting Face), B) 😭 (Loudly Crying Face), C) 🔥 (Fire), D) ❤️ (Red Heart). Take your pic, the answer’s at the end.

🏠 Imagine fighting in court for a house you already paid for. That’s the nightmare Meng Yu is facing after a scammer “stole” his deed. It only takes one forged document to drain your equity or sell your home right out from under you. Learn more below. Get a free trial and a Free Title History Report now.* — Kim

⚡ TL;DR

📖 Read time: 3 minutes

In March, the FBI and Europol took down a botnet called SocksEscort. It had quietly hijacked 369,000 home and small-business routers across 163 countries. The owners had no clue. Their routers got rented out to criminals for ransomware, fraud and DDoS attacks. Every bit of it traced back to the home IP.

Yours could be next.

Look, your router is the front door to your digital life. Most people set it up once and never touch it again. Hackers love that. Outdated firmware, factory passwords still on the sticker, zero monitoring? 

Gift-wrapped.

Once they’re in, they see every device on your network. Laptop. Phone. Smart TV. Cameras. They snoop on your browsing, grab your passwords and turn your connection into a launchpad for crimes the cops trace to YOUR door.

Three warning signs: weirdly slow internet, unfamiliar names in your connected device list and random restarts with weird blinking light patterns. Most people shrug and blame the cable company. Nope.

1. Get into the admin panel. Open a browser, type 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. Xfinity gateways use 10.0.0.1. If those flop, flip the router over. The default IP is on the sticker.

2. Change the admin password. If you’ve never touched it, it’s “admin”/“password” or printed on that sticker (which means everyone who’s ever been in your house has seen it). You can find it online here, too. Make a new one of 16+ characters. Not “password123.” (Looking at you, Paul.)

3. Audit connected devices. Open the device list. It’s sometimes called “Attached Devices,” “Network Map” or “DHCP Clients.” Anything you don’t recognize? Kick it off. Then change your Wi-Fi password, too, or it’ll just reconnect.

Heads up: If you see Espressif or ESP_8675309, don’t panic. Espressif chips power a ton of smart bulbs, plugs and cheap IoT gear. That weird name is probably your kitchen light. Identify before you kill.

4. Update the firmware. Find “Firmware Update” in the admin panel. If one’s waiting, install it. That patch usually closes the exact hole hackers walk through.

5. Lock down Wi-Fi. Set encryption to WPA3 (or WPA2 if WPA3 isn't there). Never WEP. That’s digital tissue paper. Rename your network. No last name. No address number. Don’t make it easy.

Your router should be guarding your home, not handing it over with a bow on top.

After all that, you need a smile. What did the router say to the doctor? It hurts when IP.

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Millions of home routers are compromised, and owners don’t know. Hackers use them to steal data and commit crimes traced back to your address. GetKim.com

📩 Send this to someone who set up their router years ago and hasn’t touched it since. That’s about 99.99% of the entire population. Use the links below.

Share this now:

A Florida surgeon on the run for manslaughter spent a year as a Lyft driver. He allegedly killed a patient by removing their liver instead of their spleen, then hid in plain sight as “Jacob” for 3,000+ rides.

▶️ My driver has 5 stars. Am I safe? →

🪤 Shortcut shakedown: Your computer can get mugged by a shortcut. Yep, that little desktop icon you click to open an app. Microsoft says Fancy Bear, a Russian hacking crew, is abusing booby-trapped versions of those shortcuts to steal login info from PCs. The ugly part? You may not even have to click it. This bug came from a February fix that didn’t fully fix things. A patch that needs a patch. Before your password takes a field trip to Moscow, go to Settings > run Windows Update > restart today. 

Deepfake bait buffet: Ever see Oprah selling magical skinny pills in your feed and think, Huh, that seems off? Winfrey has gone public about being on Ozempic shots. Despite being worth $350 million with doctors at her disposal, Kathy Hilton bought weight-loss pills from an AI diet scam social media ad featuring fake Oprah and fake Dr. Oz. She says it wrecked her system. The old internet gave us Nigerian princes. The new internet gives us deepfakes with a digestive agenda.

💸 Tired of paying for subscriptions you don’t even use? That app from 2021 is probably still charging you. Rocket Money hunts down those sneaky fees, shows them all in one clean dashboard and can help cancel the junk for you. I use it because it saves time and money. Try it now!* 

🚚 Porch empire expands: So Amazon’s out to eat UPS and FedEx. Local stores can pay Amazon to move packages that never touched Amazon’s site. UPS and FedEX stocks dropped immediately, because Wall Street heard the beep-beep-beep of inevitability. Amazon already has the vans, routes, warehouses and doorstep muscle. Maybe cheaper shipping for consumers, but for businesses, it may mean handing Amazon customer names, addresses, orders, habits. You know, the good stuff worth a lot of moola.

TVs go dark: I get annoyed when a remote dies. Imagine the whole TV dying because a company sneezed into the software. A new class action lawsuit accuses Roku and TCL of pushing auto-installed firmware updates that bricked perfectly working smart TVs. Owners say their sets became expensive black mirrors, with no fix and no refund. The suit basically says, hey, maybe don’t remotely destroy the thing I bought. If yours died after an update, you might be eligible to join the suit. I’ll keep you posted right here.

💊 Your meds monetized: Well, well, well. Meta and TikTok tracking pixels were found inside state-run health care sites where people sign up for Medicaid and check insurance benefits. The crazy part? Whatever you click or type gets piped to advertising networks and data brokers. Your prescription search becomes Mark Zuckerberg’s ad-targeting fodder. The states involved are scrambling to patch this. Until they do, treat any government health portal like a gas station ATM. And if you have not already, sign up for Incogni* to keep you out of the data broker’s money making machine.

See those dome cameras at the grocery store? Those aren’t just for shoplifters. Those run AI that tracks every step you take, every pause you make to figure out what you want to buy. Yes, it’s watching you. Plus, who really invented Bitcoin, a loyalty points scam to watch for and a ChatGPT trick to outsmart your mechanic.

Listen on Komando.com →

🎧 Or search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Save this one before you need it. If you’re in danger and can’t talk, you may be able to text 911 from your phone. Send your address first, then say whether you need police, fire or medical help. Add details, but keep it short. Visit text911.info today to see if it works in your area. Not something you want to google during an emergency.

💧 I write this for you: Get my Splash of AI free newsletter every Thursday. Sign up now at SplashOfAI.com, so it hits your inbox tomorrow morning. 

Your flashlight has levels: You don’t need maximum brightness to find a dropped AirPod under the bed. On iPhone, open Control Center, long-press the flashlight button and drag the slider up or down. On Android, swipe down to Quick Settings, long-press the flashlight icon and adjust the slider. Saves some battery life, too.

❤️ Find your old Instagram likes: Instagram keeps a list of the posts and Reels you’ve double-tapped. Open Settings and activity > Your activity > Likes. Sort from newest to oldest or vice versa. ICYMI: If you want to stash something private, tap the Save ribbon in the bottom right instead. Then use Collections for those unhinged memes best kept between you and the algorithm.

Delete this old junk: Your Windows PC is probably filled with apps you haven’t touched in years, and they’re still taking up space. Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps and sort by Date installed. You’ll probably spot a random movie maker, a game your kid downloaded and other things you don’t need. Hit Uninstall and you might claw back a few gigabytes.

🎵 Shazam names songs in Chrome, too: It’s not only for iPhones. Add the Shazam extension from the Chrome Web Store, then pin it to your browser toolbar. When a song plays in a Netflix, Twitch or YouTube tab, click the Shazam icon at the top right, and it’ll listen through your browser to identify the track. Try it in the middle of the song for better accuracy. Early intros love being mysterious.

Something tells me kids aren’t asking for EVs, but here we are. 

Little Tikes dropped a Cozy Coupe charging station, letting toddlers role-play the thrilling experience of waiting. 

The accessory has lights, sounds and a fake plug that snaps into the car’s fuel door. All powered by AA batteries. It’s a mini Supercharger for people who can’t spell Supercharger.

The car itself still runs on pure leg power. It’s poetic: high-tech “ooh, ah” features but powered by Flintstones-level technology. (OK, admit it. This whole thing was lol funny!)

🔜 Tomorrow: Free slot apps, fake jackpots, real credit card charges. Social casino games are designed to feel like gambling without letting you win actual money, and adults and kids can get pulled in fast. I’ll break down the trap tomorrow.

And for tomorrow’s trivia, the internet does more in 60 seconds than most of us do before lunch, and the numbers are ridiculous.

😭 The answer: B) Loudly Crying Face. Humanity has officially chosen one tiny sobbing face as the universal symbol for “I’m devastated,” “I’m crying laughing,” “this is too cute” and “I have absolutely no words.”

Talk about emotional range. According to 2026 global usage data, 😭 has overtaken 😂 as the most-used emoji on Earth. Translation: We’re all feeling a lot, and apparently, one aggressively weepy little face covers the full spectrum. 🔥 is the fastest-growing emoji worldwide.

One for the road: Fire broke out at a local marijuana farm, and the smoke began to drift to a nearby cattle ranch. The steaks were high. (I saw you smile all the way from here!)

🏘️ The dark side of AI: Scammers are using AI to create perfect fake IDs and birth certificates to impersonate homeowners. And they’re easier to make than a social media post. If you think your paper deed in a drawer is safe, think again. Get a free trial and a Free Title History Report now.*

Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily

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Photo credit(s): ChatGPT/Kim Komando, Zlumber, Little Tikes

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