😬 Your worst day is on sale right now

Welcome to your Sunday, {{first_name | friend}}. One bar on your phone looks peaceful. It’s not. Behind the scenes, your phone is sprinting on a treadmill, desperately pinging every tower in range, trying to stay connected. Elevators. Basements. That parking garage where hope goes to die. The weaker the signal, the harder it works and the faster your battery disappears.

🪫 So here’s your Sunday brainteaser: What’s the fastest way to stop your battery from draining in a dead zone? A) Lower your screen brightness, B) Close all open apps, C) Turn on airplane mode or D) Restart the phone. Take your guess. Answer’s waiting at the bottom. No peeking.

📺 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 finally worth it. — Kim

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⚡ TL;DR

📖 Read time: 2.5 minutes

Think of the worst thing that happened to you or a family member.

A cancer diagnosis. A bankruptcy. The death of a spouse. A divorce you didn’t see coming.

Could you imagine that within days of that moment, your name, home address and medical situation were packaged into a spreadsheet and sold to whoever had a credit card and a reason to exploit you?

That’s not a hypothetical. That’s Tuesday in the data broker industry. You can make it stop.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finally pulled back the curtain on what these lists are actually called. Not “consumer segments.” Not “audience profiles.”

The real list names brokers advertise to buyers: “Suffering Seniors.” “Cash Cows: Underbanked File.” “Paycheck to Paycheck Consumers.” “Bankruptcy Filers.” “Suckers.” (I made that last one up, but I’d bet money it exists.)

That’s not a marketing deck. That’s a product menu, and your worst day is the product.

A Duke University study confirmed researchers could purchase from data brokers lists of people sorted by diagnosis. Depression. Cancer. PTSD. Stroke survivors. Race and ethnicity included along with the number of children at home, phone number, home address, political affiliation and more details.

Your medical records are protected under HIPAA. The moment this information touches a third-party app, that protection is completely gone. Data brokers aren’t covered by HIPAA. They can sell whatever they want, to whomever they want, whenever they want. Seriously.

Predatory lenders buy lists of people in financial distress to pitch 300% interest loans to families already drowning. Scammers specifically buy lists of recently widowed women, because they assume there’s a life insurance payout and someone navigating money alone for the first time. 

The Brennan Center for Justice confirmed brokers have sold data directly to predatory loan companies and stalkers. Not accidentally. Not as a side effect. Directly.

That’s not a bug in the system. That’s the business model.

Start with your phone. Audit every health app you have installed. Delete anything you don’t actively use. For the ones you keep, dig into the privacy settings and opt out of data sharing. Every single one.

Then tackle the brokers holding the rest of your information.

I use Incogni because it automatically sends legal removal requests to more than 420 data brokers on your behalf, including the ones running lists called “Suffering Seniors.” 

When brokers re-add your info (and they will, because that’s the game), Incogni sends the requests again, and again, and again. Automatically. Without you lifting a finger. 

✅ Use code KIM60 for 60% off. They can’t target you if they can’t find you.

Hackers tied to Iran escalated the cyberwar, wiping out a major U.S. medical company and erasing data from 200,000 of its devices. Experts warn this attack may be a preview of what’s coming next. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft could be in the crosshairs. Here’s what this means for your data, your devices, and your digital life.

Listen on Komando.com →

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

📥 She emails. They delete it. Big mistake. MacKenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, has been cold-emailing nonprofits out of nowhere and wiring them millions. No applications. No committees. No strings. “Here’s $38 million, go do good.” Most recipients of life-changing money (paywall link) assumed it was a scam and almost deleted it. Since her divorce in 2019, Scott has given away more than $26 billion to over 2,450 organizations. In 2025 alone? $7.2 billion. That’s more than Elon Musk, Larry Page, Larry Ellison and Jeff Bezos have donated combined. In their entire lifetimes. Know someone who works at a nonprofit? Forward this. They might want to double-check their spam folder.

“Sign in with Google” is a weapon. Microsoft is warning about a wave of phishing attacks targeting the system that powers every “Sign in with Google” or “Sign in with Microsoft” button you’ve ever clicked. Attackers are building fake apps that look completely legitimate, tricking you into granting them full access to your email. No password stolen. No suspicious link. Fix it: Go to your Google or Microsoft account settings, find Connected apps or Third-party access and revoke anything you don’t recognize. Do it before you forget.

❄️ A credit freeze has a blind spot. It protects you from new accounts being opened in your name. It does nothing for the bank accounts you already have. If your login credentials leak, a freeze won’t stop a thing. I use NordProtect to watch the dark web around the clock and alert me the second my info shows up somewhere it shouldn’t. Get 66% off for just $4.74 a month. Lock the front door AND the back.*

Amazon wants to be your doctor: The company that already knows your shoe size, sleep schedule, and what you panic-ordered at 2 a.m. just opened its Health AI to anyone with an Amazon account. No Prime required. It answers health questions, decodes lab results, books appointments and renews prescriptions. Convenient? Yes. But the same algorithm that whispers "you might also like" is now sitting between you and your doctor. Argh.

🚀 We punched an asteroid. It worked. NASA confirmed that the DART mission, where scientists deliberately crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid at 14,000 mph, permanently changed the orbit of that asteroid and a larger one linked by gravity around the sun. We’re talking a fraction of a second off a 770-day trip. Sounds minor. It isn’t. A tiny shove early can mean Earth doesn’t get smoked later. Humanity aimed at a rock in space and moved it. No thrust issues here.

AI is getting rid of white-collar jobs, but the trades are booming. Find out who’s safe and who’s not.

Listen on Komando.com →

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

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Stop googling at your AI chatbot. Most people type one-line questions and wonder why the answers are meh. Context is everything. Instead of “How do I fix a leaking tap?” try: “I’m a first-time homeowner with zero DIY experience. Explain how to fix a leaking tap like I’m 12.” The AI rewrites its entire response. Vocabulary, assumptions, detail level, all of it. Same question. Completely different answer. Mediocre prompts get mediocre results. Give it context, and watch it transform.

🛡️ Your antivirus might be asleep on the job: Old security software can’t keep up with AI-powered threats that mutate in real time. Webroot works differently. It lives in the cloud, scans in seconds and blocks 99% of threats without slowing you down one bit. And it’s updating constantly, because the bad guys sure are. Get my exclusive 62% off deal right now.*

Facebook Marketplace is wasting your time: Half those listings are already sold. Fix it in 10 seconds. Search what you want, then under Filters, set Date listed to Last 7 days. Fresh listings only. And while you’re scrolling… if a seller profile says “joined 2026,” that’s not a seller. That’s a scam. Report and block immediately, so their other listings stop poisoning your Feed. You’re welcome.

🧾 Your phone already filed your receipts: You just haven’t looked. On iPhone, open Photos > Collections > Utilities > Receipts. Need a specific one? Tap the search icon and type “restaurant receipt” or “hardware store.” Done. Android folks: open Gallery, tap the search icon and hit Receipts. All those photos you’ve been hoarding in your camera roll? Organized. Neat.

✈️ Don’t throw your phone into a TSA bin: Wallets, cameras and phones go missing at checkpoints more than you’d think. Tuck valuables into a zipped pocket of your bag or coat before the belt. Small electronics can stay in your carry-on during screening, too, so don’t feel suspicious doing it. And if something ever does go missing during screening? File a claim at the TSA website. Keep that in your back pocket.

Every fantasy epic eventually ends up where all priceless artifacts go: a pawnshop in Las Vegas.

A viral AI video drops Frodo Baggins into Pawn Stars, where he tries to sell the One Ring. The shop immediately does what the shop always does, shrugs at the apocalypse-grade jewelry and lowballs Frodo with a $20 offer. One line lands perfectly: “This isn’t as uncommon as you’d think, they made about 20 of these.”

Thousands died for that ring. Turns out the real villain was depreciation. Watch the AI action here.

I was obsessed with Lord of the Rings books, movies, collectables, everything. Finally, I was able to kick the hobbit.

🔜 Coming tomorrow: You can make $20 a hour wearing a camera to show AI robots how to fold laundry or load a dishwasher. I’ll tell you more and share the links in your inbox tomorrow. AI is also hiring artists, teachers, farmers and more. It’s wild.

✈️ The answer: C) Turn on airplane mode. In a dead zone, airplane mode is the fastest way to stop your battery from draining because it shuts off the radio that’s desperately hunting for a cell tower like it got left on read. 

Lowering screen brightness helps a little. Closing apps helps even less. But if weak signal is the problem, cutting off the transmitter is the real battery-saving hero.

Speaking of, why did the 9V battery get kicked out of church? Because they were holding an AA Meeting. (Oh that hurt even me when I wrote that.)

🦹🏼‍♀️ Go take on the day like a 4-year-old in a superhero cape. No fear, no doubts, no idea what's impossible. Just pure, unstoppable, cape-flapping confidence. — 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.

Photo credit(s): Gemini, ThermoMaven, @DungerZone via YouTube

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