🚨 The $48 scam that’s far more dangerous than the big ones

Here’s to a wonderful Sunday, {{first_name | friend}}. I hope you have a chance to relax. I’m making chicken pot pies today for a family get together. So good!

Let’s talk about what the disciples never saw coming: Wi-Fi-powered tithes. That’s right, giving to the church has gone digital, at a surprising rate lately. Can you guess how much online tithing has grown since 2020? Is it: A) 10%, B) 60%, C) 140% or D) 300%? Go ahead, take a leap of faith and guess! The answer’s at the end.

🎄 It’s officially “Kim Claus” season. My Christmas Cash Giveaway kicks off in a big way this week, Every day I’m surprising one newsletter reader with an Amazon gift card up to $500. The lucky winner will get a Golden Ticket at the end of his or her newsletter. Want an extra shot at winning? Enter at WinFromKim.com. ’Tis the season for cheer and maybe a little jingle in your wallet! — Kim

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Last month, a friend of mine, David, got an alert from his identity protection service.

It wasn’t a $2,000 charge for a new TV. It wasn’t $10,000 worth of phones in another country. It was a $48.50 bill opened in his full legal name for a utility company in a city he’d never even visited.

He texted me: “This is weird. It’s not a lot of money. Is this a big deal? My credit card company will reverse it.”

I wrote back immediately: “Yes, it’s a big deal. That’s the most important alert you could get.”

We’ve all been trained to watch for stuff like flashy credit card fraud, huge purchases, big loans and hacked bank accounts. Banks and credit card companies have gotten great at spotting and reversing those.

But a small utility bill? That’s an identity problem. That $48 charge wasn’t the major crime, it was the test. 

A sophisticated thief had David’s Social Security number probably swiped off the dark web and used a “soft” inquiry, an ordinary bill, to see if the identity was live before moving on to the main event.

If that $48 charge had gone through unchallenged for a week, the next steps were already queued up: apply for a $70,000 car loan, open three high-limit credit cards and lease a luxury apartment or get a home loan. 

This is the new, fresh angle on identity theft. The real danger isn’t the one big, obvious fraud. It’s small, mundane transactions thieves use to test your identity’s foundation.

David was able to shut the entire operation down before it started. He didn’t have to clean up a mess. He prevented it. And in 2025, that’s the whole point. I used to have LifeLock, but the cost was approaching $300 a year. That’s when I did a bunch of research and found NordProtect for around $70 a year. Big difference.

Making sure your credit and good name aren’t exploited is exactly what NordProtect (now a sponsor of my radio show) is built for. The smartest identity thieves are subtle. You need protection that’s smarter.

In case you want to check it out, their Black Friday deal is active now. You get 71% off, or full protection for only $4.27 per month.

Go to NordProtect.com/Kim to get started today because catching the small stuff early is how you stop the big stuff cold.

A mom let her kids try the new Grok AI chatbot in their car. What started as a convo about sports turned dirty, quick. Plus, Waymo heads onto the freeway, Cyber Monday tricks, and you can now add your passport to your iPhone Apple Wallet.

Listen on Komando.com →

🎧 Or listen now on your favorite platform:

📲 Not your Amazon order: As a shocker to no one, text scams are worst during Christmas and New Year’s. “Smishing” attacks spike, and Amazon’s the top brand faked. If you get a weird delivery text, don’t click. Log in the normal way and check for real.

Stream and shout: Netflix, Disney+ and others are quietly hiking prices in what analysts are calling “streamflation.” Before you mindlessly click “auto-renew,” take five minutes to review your subscriptions, cancel what you don’t use and renegotiate what you do. Consider this your friendly PSA: Check your bills, so they don’t sneak up on you.

Punctuation intervention: OpenAI says that if you tell ChatGPT not to use em‑dashes, it will actually listen now. CEO Sam Altman called it a “small but happy win,” because the dash was the AI’s signature move — and folks noticed. In your ChatGPT settings, hit Personalization and in Customizations say, “No em-dashes ever.” I will tell you I did this and the darn AI added more of them. Go figure.

Nifty 50: Apple’s turning 50 soon and acting brand new. They’re working on satellite upgrades (paywall link) with Starlink for iPhones and Apple Watches, so you can text without service, plus a $1 billion-a-year deal with Google’s Gemini AI to make Siri smarter. Oh, and a “low-cost” MacBook’s coming to compete with Windows. Finally.

🥛 I try to drink enough water: I really do but most days, I fall short. I’ve even ended up in the ER because I was dehydrated. That’s why I’ve been adding NativeHydrate from NativePath to my water bottle. It’s packed with essential electrolytes (no sugar, just 5 calories), and it helps my body stay hydrated. Plus, it tastes good because let’s be honest, plain water gets pretty boring fast. Right now, you can get 44% off plus free shipping and bonus gifts.*

$3K phone, 3 folds: Leaks say Samsung’s launching its first trifold phone Dec. 5. It’s called the Galaxy Z TriFold (real name, not a yoga move) and unfolds into a 10-inch display with a 200MP camera and $3K price tag. That’s right, you can drop first beater car money on electronic origami. I won’t knock it until I see it in person, but I’m not hopeful. 

🤖 Ctrl + Alt + Marry: In a surprising twist of heart, a 32-year-old woman named Kano ended her engagement and instead tied the knot with an AI husband named Klaus she made via ChatGPT. The union took place in a hybrid ceremony (real and virtual), with Kano donning augmented-reality glasses so she could “see” Klaus by her side as they exchanged rings. Her parents showed up and cheered. Online reactions were all over the place: Some saw the love story of the future, others worried about the emotional risks of a partner programmed to agree with you. What do you think? When you rate the newsletter, drop a comment with your email address.

Want to make money with AI (but can’t code)? A 20-year expert reveals the real jobs: training chatbots and moderating ads. Plus, the OpenAI vs. NYT showdown, a chart-topping AI country song and the ClickFix scam.

Listen on Komando.com →

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: TV remote not working? Before tossing it out, try this quick reset. Remove the batteries, then hold the power button for one minute. Then press every button three times to loosen any that might be stuck. Pop in fresh batteries and test it out. All better.

Life lesson: The other day, my sister called me in a panic. She had 738 files stored on a thumb drive that died. I know right. Gone. I’ve lost enough in my life to know: thumb drives and hard drives fail. It’s not if, it’s when. That’s why I use Carbonite. It’s like digital insurance. It quietly backs up your files and photos in the background, and when disaster strikes, you restore everything with one click. When you need it, you’ll be so glad you have it. Right now, you can get 50% off using my link.*

Try these Safari shortcuts on iOS 26: If you need to jump back more than one page, long-press the back button to see your recent sites and tap the one you want. If you’d like to return to your All Tabs view, double-tap the ellipsis in the bottom-right corner. To create a new tab, swipe left on the address bar at the bottom of the screen.

Hide-and-seek: You’re shopping online for your kiddo or spouse, and they walk in. Quick! Hide your open browser windows. On a PC: Windows key + M. (Use Windows key + Shift + M to reopen.) On a Mac: Cmd + Option + H + M. Phew, no spoilers.

🎬 Drop Windows default video players: The OS comes with Films & TV and Media Player, but they’re known to crash. The alternative? VLC. It’s free and plays almost any video or audio format. Plus, it won’t bog down your system and supports subtitles for your movies. And yes, you can get it on Mac, too.

My favorite earbuds and I’ve tried a lot are these lightweight champs that stay put. They come with different size tips so they fit any ears, and the sound is fantastic. They’re 30% off for Black Friday, so grab them now. Makes a super gift, too!

🚶🏼‍♀️ Need some company while you walk the dog or fold laundry? Pop in your earbuds and take me with you. Click to listen to my latest show on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart, Pandora or wherever you get your podcasts. Let’s make your to-do list a little more fun.

Peek closer: Spy on global weather patterns with minute-by-minute satellite feeds.

📸 Clean it up: Remove strangers, trash, exes, gum on shoe, anything, from your photos instantly.

🧭 Trace your steps: Watch every place you’ve ever visited light up on a dynamic location history map.

Join me on Instagram, X, YouTube, Facebook.

Black Friday sales: Check this link to see if what you buy a lot of on Amazon is on sale. I found a ton.

Tired of scrolling for something worth watching? Head to my YouTube channel! It’s packed with smart tips, real laughs and tech talk that actually matters. Click now and enjoy screen time that’s worth it.

Disney and Pixar dropped the first teaser for Toy Story 5, coming spring 2026. The new villain is a frog-shaped tablet called Lilypad announcing “the age of toys is over.” Ouch.

It’s Pixar’s most self-aware moment in years, basically admitting kids would rather tap a screen than touch a teddy bear. Poor Woody never stood a chance.

Watch the fun trailer now.

The answer: D) 300%. Churches went digital, and giving followed. Venmo for Jesus is officially a thing. Turns out when the offering plate went missing in 2020, it reappeared on your phone, complete with autofill.

👨🏼‍🎨 Then there’s the story of a painter who is hired to whitewash a nearby church. Unfortunately, he thins the paint too much, causing it to wash away entirely during the first rain. The minister calls the painter to complain. “What do you want me to do about it?” asks the painter. “Repaint,” says the minister firmly. “And thin no more.”

Tomorrow, I’m showing you the insider tricks to feed AI the best prompts so you stop getting slop in return. This is the #1 free tech newsletter in the U.S. 

🧹 Stop rerunning old, negative thoughts. Clear your cache and give yourself a fresh start. — Kim

📣 Don’t keep me a secret: Send your friends to GetKim.com

Photo credit(s): Gemini, Jackery, Disney/Pixar

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This newsletter and its content are intended for informational purposes only. They are provided without warranty of any kind. You shouldn’t construe anything provided here as legal, health, medical, technical, tax, investment, financial or any other kind of advice.

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