People lost more money to scams that started on Facebook than on any other platform. WhatsApp and Instagram came in a distant second and third.

Losses started on Facebook alone topped all text message scams. They topped all email scams, too. Every age group now loses more money through social media than any other way scammers make contact.

Why? Because scammers use the exact same ad tools legitimate businesses use. They pay Facebook to target you by age, interests and shopping habits. They buy your data to learn what you’ll fall for. And they hijack your friends’ accounts, so the pitch comes from a face you trust.

The damage breaks down like this:

Investment scams took $1.1 billion, more than half the total, usually starting with an ad promising to teach you how to invest.  Shopping scams were the most common. Over 40% of victims ordered something from a social media ad that never showed up.  And 60% of romance scam victims say it started on social media.

Lock it down

1. On Facebook, go to Settings & privacy > Settings.Scroll to Audience and visibility.Tap or click Posts.Set Who can see your future posts? to Friends.

2. Then, go back to Settings & privacy > Settings > Audience and visibility. Open How people find and contact you. This is important. Set Who can see your friends list? to Only me.

Download a free app called SkyView Lite on Android or Apple. Open it, point your phone at the sky and watch it label everything you aim at: stars, planets, constellations, even the International Space Station sailing overhead.

Want something deeper? Stellarium is free, too, and it can ping you before big sky events, so you never miss a good clear night.

Try this. Point your phone straight down at the ground. The app keeps right on going and shows you the stars over the far side of the planet, the ones beneath your feet this very second. You’re looking clean through the Earth.

🛑 One pro move before you head out: Turn on the app’s red night mode. Your eyes take a full 20 to 30 minutes to adjust to the dark, and a single glance at a bright white screen wipes that out instantly. Red light keeps your night vision intact. If you can, drive a few minutes past the city glow. It triples what you will see.

Use the app to track down the W shape of Cassiopeia. Beside it sits a faint, fuzzy smudge that looks like a smeared star. That smudge is the Andromeda Galaxy, and it’s the single farthest thing your naked eye will ever see. It sits 2.5 million light-years away. The light hitting your eye tonight left before our species even existed.

You’re not looking at a star. You’re staring 2.5 million years into the past.

Then set a reminder for Aug. 12 and 13. The Perseid meteor shower peaks, and this year, it appears during a new moon, so the sky goes pitch black and you could catch 90 shooting stars an hour. Aim your app at Perseus, lie back and wait for the show to start.

Airlines and booking sites make mistakes. A decimal slips. A currency converts wrong. Someone fat-fingers a price. For a few hours, a $900 fare to Italy shows up at $430. These are real, and they’re called mistake fares.

The other half is timing. Prices swing constantly, so the same seat that’s painful in July is a steal in early June or late August. And right now, Europe is the soft spot.

Bookings between the U.S. and Europe have dropped a ton this year, which quietly pulls fares down. Of course, the cheapest stretches typically run January through mid-May and September into early December.

Track your route on Google Flights first. Tap “Track prices,” and it emails you the second your fare drops. I do this every single time.   Sign up for a free deal-alert service. Going and Skyscanner both have free tiers. FYI, the alert services push a paid membership hard. Skip the upgrade button and ride the free version. It still sends real deals. Price shop. momondo compares fares across hundreds of booking sites for free. I found Chicago to Paris from $300, Chicago to London from $337 and Chicago to Copenhagen from $372. When a great fare pops, book fast. These vanish in hours, sometimes minutes. Nervous? Book anyway. Federal law gives you 24 hours to cancel most U.S. airline bookings for a full refund. Lock the price, then sort out the details.

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 large onions, diced
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 inches fresh ginger, finely grated
• 10 cups bone broth
• 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 4 breasts)
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
• 7 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 6 cups kale, roughly chopped
• Juice of 2 lemons
• sea salt, to taste
• black pepper (to activate the turmeric)

Instructions

STEP 1

In a large pot, heat the extra-virgin olive oil and add the onions, carrots, and celery. Cook until tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another 3 minutes.

STEP 2

Add the bone broth, chicken, chopped herbs, turmeric, and cayenne. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the chicken and shred with two forks. Return the shredded chicken to the pot and cook for another 5 minutes. About 5 minutes before serving, stir in the kale and lemon juice. Adjust seasoning with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Sal would like to wish all employees and their families a Happy and Safe July 4th holiday.

Regal Automotive Group will be closed on Saturday, July 4th in observance of the 250th anniversary of our country

Enjoy the time off with you family and friends.

No matter how good you are, how hard you try, or how decent of a person you attempt to be, when it comes to following Christ, you can’t earn your way to God. You can’t do enough good things to tip the scales in your favor. You can’t buy, win, impress, or manipulate your way into salvation.

But Jesus has already purchased your freedom on a cross and offered it to you as a gift. And you have one job, as Paul describes in his letter to the Romans…

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9 NIV

Many people believe that Jesus was a real, historical person. Many people believe that Jesus was a genuinely good man. But the Bible says that even the demons believe there’s only one God, and shudder (James 2:19).

It’s more than knowing in your head—it’s believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth.

Minutes before their deaths, two criminals hung next to Jesus on the cross. One of the criminals mocked Him, but the other one trusted in Him. Jesus told the one who trusted Him that he would soon be in Heaven. He received grace.

You see, we’ve all sinned and fallen short of God’s holy standard. We all need His grace, but we haven’t all received His grace.

So are you trying to be good enough for God? The bad news is, you can’t. You can’t ever be good enough on your own. But the great news is, Jesus has already made a way. However, you can’t simply know that He was a real person or think that some of His teachings were nice.

The most important question remains: Will you make Him the Lord of your life?

The call came in the middle of the afternoon. A Bay Area mom picked up and heard her daughter’s voice. Panicked. Crying. She’d been grabbed. Someone needed money, or they weren’t letting her go.

The mom wired thousands of dollars. Her daughter was fine. She was at work the whole time.

The voice was AI-generated. Convincing enough to fool a mother. And this is happening to families all across the country.

🤔 Here’s the question nobody’s asking:

Everyone’s focused on the voice clone technology. I get it. It’s terrifying. But the technology is just the weapon. Before a scammer can make that call, they need the ammunition.

They need to know your name. Your daughter’s name. That she’s your daughter. Your phone number. Her voice samples. Your city. Your family structure.

Every single piece of that information is sitting in a data broker file. Right now. Available for purchase.

Data brokers compile your personal details from public records, social media, app data, loyalty programs and purchase histories. They bundle it into a profile and sell it to marketers, insurance companies, recruiters and anyone else willing to pay. There are no background checks on buyers. There is no list of approved uses. The file exists, and it gets sold.

Your profile almost certainly includes your name, home address, phone number, relatives’ names, their relationships to you, your approximate income and your property records. All of it searchable. All of it packaged. Some of it sold for pennies.

🔒 What you can do

Set up a family code word today. Pick something random that only your family knows. If someone calls claiming to be your daughter and can’t say the word, hang up immediately and call her directly. The scam runs on panic. A code word kills the panic.

A voice clone is scary, but it’s nothing without the data behind it. Scammers use broker files to know exactly who you are, who you love and how to reach you. That’s the real blueprint behind every targeted attack