"Once they have that, they can scam you for other things," Clay said.
Aidan Holland, senior security researcher at threat research platform Censys, has been extensively tracking toll scams and agrees that they are likely perpetuated by Chinese criminals overseas. Holland has identified 60,000 domains, which he estimates cost the criminals $90,000 to buy in bulk and use to launch attacks.
"You don't invest that much unless you are getting some kind of return," Holland said.
State-run toll systems across the U.S. targeted
The domains use variations of state-run toll systems like Georgia's Peach Pass, Florida's Sun Pass, or Texas's Texas Tag. They also have more domains from generic-sounding toll systems for people who don't have a specific toll system in their state. He's traced the domains to Chinese networks, which point to a Chinese origin.
Apple's iPhones are supposed to have a safety feature that strips the link from the text, but hackers are finding ways to evade that, making it easier to fall for the ruse.
"They are constantly changing tactics," Holland said.
Ultimately, scammers are banking on human nature to make scams effective.
"Scammers want people to panic, not pause, so they use fear and urgency to rush people into clicking before they spot the scam," said Amy Bunn, online safety advocate at McAfee. Bunn says that AI tools are making this type of scan more prevalent.
"Greater access to AI tools helps cybercriminals create a higher volume of convincing text messages that trick people into sharing sensitive personal or payment information – like they'd enter when paying a toll road fine," Bunn said. McAfee research found that toll scams nearly quadrupled in volume from early January to the end of February this year.
Violent Tornadoes Possible From Midwest to Southern US
A significant severe weather outbreak begins Friday from the central plains, shifting to the gulf coast states by Saturday.
A significant severe weather outbreak begins Friday from the central plains, shifting to the gulf coast states by Saturday.
The storm prediction center, which specializes in severe storm forecasting, has placed over 15 states in their second highest level alert for hurricane-force wind gusts, golf ball to softball sized hail, and violent long-track tornadoes.
A significant storm system from the west coast will cross the country pulling intense moisture off the Gulf of America and funneling it into late winter chilly air. The effects will produce a strong storm triggering severe weather for over 200 million people.
The midwest will see the storms first with severe weather hitting places from Davenport, Iowa to St Louis, Missouri. This area is under a level 4 out of 5 for all modes of severe weather. However, the primary risk will be wind gusts that might exceed hurricane force and very large hail associated with supercell thunderstorms.
The storms will then target the southern states with storms firing up as early as Saturday morning.
New Orleans, Louisiana to Birmingham, Alabama are under a significant risk area for severe storms. The environment over this area is conducive for long-track tornadoes.
The national weather service has placed millions in a 30% chance for seeing a tornado at any given point within a 25 mile radius.
FAA DEI Lawsuit Gains Momentum Under Trump Admin
The Trump administration's arrival in Washington has offered renewed hope for plaintiffs in a class action challenging the Federal Aviation Administration's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
The Trump administration's arrival in Washington has offered renewed hope for plaintiffs in a class action challenging the Federal Aviation Administration's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
Originally filed in December 2015, Brigida v. U.S. Department of Transportation was prompted by the FAA's decision to abandon its longtime hiring practice, which relied on a network of university-sponsored Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) programs.
"We came prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short," Wilmore said, adding that from his standpoint, politics and played no role in NASA's decision to keep them on the ISS until Crew-10's arrival.
"That's what your nation's human spaceflight program's all about, planning for unknown, unexpected contingencies, and we did that," he said.
The astronaut duo has been doing scientific research and conducting routine maintenance with the space station's other astronauts, and have remained safe, NASA has said.
The demands by Trump and Musk for an earlier return were an unusual intervention in NASA's human spaceflight operations. The mission previously had a target date of March 26, but NASA swapped a delayed SpaceX capsule with a different one that would be ready sooner.
Trump: Congrats to Schumer for 'Guts' to Do 'Right Thing'
President Donald Trump congratulated Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Friday for backing the GOP stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown that was set to begin Saturday if a deal wasn't reached.
"Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took 'guts' and courage!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "The big Tax Cuts, L.A. fire fix, Debt Ceiling Bill, and so much more, is coming. We should all work together on that very dangerous situation. A non pass would be a Country destroyer, approval will lead us to new heights. Again, really good and smart move by Senator Schumer. This could lead to something big for the USA, a whole new direction and beginning! DJT"
"We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday, and there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end — BUT, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY, AND IN A VERY BAD AND VULNERABLE POSITION," Trump posted Friday on Truth Social.
"I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II. God bless them all!!!"
Putin said Thursday that he agreed in principle with a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, but the terms needed to be worked out, and he emphasized that it should pave the way to lasting peace.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 declined by 10% from its February record, putting it in correction territory.
“The more people are looking for sharp cuts by the Fed, the more they’re judging that a recession is likely,” said Summers, who now serves on the board of OpenAI.
Summers called Trump’s tariffs “confused protectionist policy” because “manufacturing has trended downwards for 60 years as a share of the economy,” including even in China, primarily due to automation and assembly lines.
A better approach to rebuilding U.S. manufacturing and jobs, Summers suggested, would be to “subsidize outputs rather than raise the price of manufacturing inputs” via import tariffs. Summers also said it does not make sense to tariff goods made in Canada and Mexico, which, essentially, are manufacturing partners to the U.S.
Asked if he agrees with Trump’s focus on strengthening the U.S. economy in the long term, Summers likened it to the Biden administration’s and the Federal Reserve’s initial dismissal of the severity of inflation.
“I don’t think the idea that this is some kind of transition period is going to work out very well at all,” Summers said.
As to what investors should pay attention to when deciding how to allocate their portfolios, Summers pointed to forward-looking data, including business orders, consumer sentiment, commodity prices and equity analyst forecasts. If downward revisions in any of these gains momentum, it could be a recession signal, Summers said.
Past shutdowns have not been a huge deal for financial markets, with investors pointing to how U.S. economic growth recovered after funding was restored. But any clearing of uncertainty can be helpful when so much of it has been sending the U.S. stock market on big, scary swings not just day to day but also hour to hour.
The heaviest uncertainty lies with President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war. There, the main question is how much pain Trump will let the economy endure through tariffs and other policies in order to reshape the country and world as he wants. The president has said he wants manufacturing jobs back in the United States, along with a smaller U.S. government workforce and other fundamental changes.
U.S. households and businesses have already reported drops in confidence because of all the uncertainty about which tariffs will stick from Trump’s barrage of on -again, off -again announcements. That’s raised fears about a pullback in spending that could sap energy from the economy.
Such fears have Wall Street focused on whether companies are seeing the uncertainty translate into real pain for their businesses.
Ulta Beauty jumped 6.1% after the beauty products retailer reported stronger profit for the latest quarter. The company’s forecasts for upcoming revenue and profit fell short of analysts’ targets, but Chief Financial Officer Paula Oyibo said it wanted to be cautious “as we navigate ongoing consumer uncertainty.”
Other retailers and airlines have said recently they’ve begun to see a change in their customers’ behavior because of the uncertainty created by tariffs.
Gains for Big Tech stocks and companies in the artificial-intelligence industry also helped support the market. Such stocks have been under the most pressure in the recent sell-off after critics said their prices shot too high in the frenzy around AI.
Nvidia rose 3.7% to trim its loss for 2025 so far to 10.7%.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.
Stocks jumped 2.1% in Hong Kong and 1.8% in Shanghai after China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration issued a notice ordering financial institutions to help develop consumer finance and encourage use of credit cards, do more to aid borrowers who run into trouble, and be more transparent in their lending practices.
Iron ore futures rebounded to CNY 795 per tonne from the two-month low of CNY 770 touched on March 10th, tracking other assets that benefit from higher economic activity in China after officials in Beijing announced they will implement a batch of measures to boost consumption. Besides the support for manufactured goods, the measures are expected to combat China's prolonged property crisis and prevent more developers from being liquidated, which are among the world's top steel consumers. Still, expectations that steel output may slow this year capped a higher rebound. The Chinese government stated they will cut capacity for steel producers, speculated by markets to equivalate cuts of around 50 million tons of steel per year. The capacity caps would target increasing concerns of overcapacity among blast furnaces and mills, stemmed by lower construction demand due to the country’s property crisis and a decreasing ability to offload steel to foreign customers.
The Nikkei 225 Index climbed 0.71% to close at 37,053, while the broader Topix Index edged up 0.65% to 2,716 on Friday, as investors snapped up beaten-down technology stocks. Despite the rebound, market sentiment remained fragile amid escalating global trade tensions. In the latest trade dispute, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on all alcoholic products from the European Union, retaliating against the bloc’s 50% tariff on American whiskey. Meanwhile, investors continued to monitor Bank of Japan policy signals, as Governor Kazuo Ueda reaffirmed plans to reduce the central bank’s massive balance sheet. Leading the tech rally were Fujikura (8.1%), Advantest (+5.3%), Disco (+3.7%), SoftBank Group (1%), and Tokyo Electron (+0.8%). Still, the Nikkei and Topix indexes ended the week little changed, inching up 0.45% and 0.27%, respectively.
!summarize #china #openai #deepseek #ai #economy
"Once they have that, they can scam you for other things," Clay said.
Aidan Holland, senior security researcher at threat research platform Censys, has been extensively tracking toll scams and agrees that they are likely perpetuated by Chinese criminals overseas. Holland has identified 60,000 domains, which he estimates cost the criminals $90,000 to buy in bulk and use to launch attacks.
"You don't invest that much unless you are getting some kind of return," Holland said.
State-run toll systems across the U.S. targeted
The domains use variations of state-run toll systems like Georgia's Peach Pass, Florida's Sun Pass, or Texas's Texas Tag. They also have more domains from generic-sounding toll systems for people who don't have a specific toll system in their state. He's traced the domains to Chinese networks, which point to a Chinese origin.
Apple's iPhones are supposed to have a safety feature that strips the link from the text, but hackers are finding ways to evade that, making it easier to fall for the ruse.
"They are constantly changing tactics," Holland said.
!summarize #retirement #americans #cruise #sea
Ultimately, scammers are banking on human nature to make scams effective.
"Scammers want people to panic, not pause, so they use fear and urgency to rush people into clicking before they spot the scam," said Amy Bunn, online safety advocate at McAfee. Bunn says that AI tools are making this type of scan more prevalent.
"Greater access to AI tools helps cybercriminals create a higher volume of convincing text messages that trick people into sharing sensitive personal or payment information – like they'd enter when paying a toll road fine," Bunn said. McAfee research found that toll scams nearly quadrupled in volume from early January to the end of February this year.
Violent Tornadoes Possible From Midwest to Southern US
A significant severe weather outbreak begins Friday from the central plains, shifting to the gulf coast states by Saturday.
A significant severe weather outbreak begins Friday from the central plains, shifting to the gulf coast states by Saturday.
The storm prediction center, which specializes in severe storm forecasting, has placed over 15 states in their second highest level alert for hurricane-force wind gusts, golf ball to softball sized hail, and violent long-track tornadoes.
A significant storm system from the west coast will cross the country pulling intense moisture off the Gulf of America and funneling it into late winter chilly air. The effects will produce a strong storm triggering severe weather for over 200 million people.
The midwest will see the storms first with severe weather hitting places from Davenport, Iowa to St Louis, Missouri. This area is under a level 4 out of 5 for all modes of severe weather. However, the primary risk will be wind gusts that might exceed hurricane force and very large hail associated with supercell thunderstorms.
The storms will then target the southern states with storms firing up as early as Saturday morning.
New Orleans, Louisiana to Birmingham, Alabama are under a significant risk area for severe storms. The environment over this area is conducive for long-track tornadoes.
The national weather service has placed millions in a 30% chance for seeing a tornado at any given point within a 25 mile radius.
!summarize #silver #gold #metals #investing
FAA DEI Lawsuit Gains Momentum Under Trump Admin
The Trump administration's arrival in Washington has offered renewed hope for plaintiffs in a class action challenging the Federal Aviation Administration's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
The Trump administration's arrival in Washington has offered renewed hope for plaintiffs in a class action challenging the Federal Aviation Administration's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
Originally filed in December 2015, Brigida v. U.S. Department of Transportation was prompted by the FAA's decision to abandon its longtime hiring practice, which relied on a network of university-sponsored Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) programs.
"We came prepared to stay long, even though we planned to stay short," Wilmore said, adding that from his standpoint, politics and played no role in NASA's decision to keep them on the ISS until Crew-10's arrival.
"That's what your nation's human spaceflight program's all about, planning for unknown, unexpected contingencies, and we did that," he said.
The astronaut duo has been doing scientific research and conducting routine maintenance with the space station's other astronauts, and have remained safe, NASA has said.
The demands by Trump and Musk for an earlier return were an unusual intervention in NASA's human spaceflight operations. The mission previously had a target date of March 26, but NASA swapped a delayed SpaceX capsule with a different one that would be ready sooner.
!summarize #crime #Houston #breakin #shooting
Trump: Congrats to Schumer for 'Guts' to Do 'Right Thing'
President Donald Trump congratulated Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Friday for backing the GOP stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown that was set to begin Saturday if a deal wasn't reached.
"Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took 'guts' and courage!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "The big Tax Cuts, L.A. fire fix, Debt Ceiling Bill, and so much more, is coming. We should all work together on that very dangerous situation. A non pass would be a Country destroyer, approval will lead us to new heights. Again, really good and smart move by Senator Schumer. This could lead to something big for the USA, a whole new direction and beginning! DJT"
"We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday, and there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end — BUT, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY, AND IN A VERY BAD AND VULNERABLE POSITION," Trump posted Friday on Truth Social.
"I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II. God bless them all!!!"
Putin said Thursday that he agreed in principle with a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, but the terms needed to be worked out, and he emphasized that it should pave the way to lasting peace.
!summarize #nancymace #biden #immigrationapp
On Thursday, the S&P 500 declined by 10% from its February record, putting it in correction territory.
“The more people are looking for sharp cuts by the Fed, the more they’re judging that a recession is likely,” said Summers, who now serves on the board of OpenAI.
Summers called Trump’s tariffs “confused protectionist policy” because “manufacturing has trended downwards for 60 years as a share of the economy,” including even in China, primarily due to automation and assembly lines.
A better approach to rebuilding U.S. manufacturing and jobs, Summers suggested, would be to “subsidize outputs rather than raise the price of manufacturing inputs” via import tariffs. Summers also said it does not make sense to tariff goods made in Canada and Mexico, which, essentially, are manufacturing partners to the U.S.
Asked if he agrees with Trump’s focus on strengthening the U.S. economy in the long term, Summers likened it to the Biden administration’s and the Federal Reserve’s initial dismissal of the severity of inflation.
“I don’t think the idea that this is some kind of transition period is going to work out very well at all,” Summers said.
As to what investors should pay attention to when deciding how to allocate their portfolios, Summers pointed to forward-looking data, including business orders, consumer sentiment, commodity prices and equity analyst forecasts. If downward revisions in any of these gains momentum, it could be a recession signal, Summers said.
!summarize #eddiescozzare #drops
!summarize #nvidia #tesla #disruption #robotics #technology
!summarize #jaxondart #nygiants #quarterback #nfl #draft
!summarize #mlb #rockies #salarycap #salaryfloor #colorado #owner
!summarize #cnn #trump #inflation #economy
!summarize #pambondi #tesla #vandalism #doj
!summarize #disney #rachelzegler #snowwhite #hollywood #movie
!summarize #joeflacco #nygiants #quarterback #nfl
!summarize #gerritcole #nyyankees #pitcher #Injury #mlb
!summarize #bluestates #politics #policy #democrats #elections
!summarize #tesla #cybercab #robotaxi #transportation
!summarize #closers #draft #baseball #pitchers
!summarize #relationships #dating #marriage #women
Past shutdowns have not been a huge deal for financial markets, with investors pointing to how U.S. economic growth recovered after funding was restored. But any clearing of uncertainty can be helpful when so much of it has been sending the U.S. stock market on big, scary swings not just day to day but also hour to hour.
The heaviest uncertainty lies with President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war. There, the main question is how much pain Trump will let the economy endure through tariffs and other policies in order to reshape the country and world as he wants. The president has said he wants manufacturing jobs back in the United States, along with a smaller U.S. government workforce and other fundamental changes.
U.S. households and businesses have already reported drops in confidence because of all the uncertainty about which tariffs will stick from Trump’s barrage of on -again, off -again announcements. That’s raised fears about a pullback in spending that could sap energy from the economy.
Such fears have Wall Street focused on whether companies are seeing the uncertainty translate into real pain for their businesses.
Ulta Beauty jumped 6.1% after the beauty products retailer reported stronger profit for the latest quarter. The company’s forecasts for upcoming revenue and profit fell short of analysts’ targets, but Chief Financial Officer Paula Oyibo said it wanted to be cautious “as we navigate ongoing consumer uncertainty.”
Other retailers and airlines have said recently they’ve begun to see a change in their customers’ behavior because of the uncertainty created by tariffs.
!summarize #china #automotive #ev
Gains for Big Tech stocks and companies in the artificial-intelligence industry also helped support the market. Such stocks have been under the most pressure in the recent sell-off after critics said their prices shot too high in the frenzy around AI.
Nvidia rose 3.7% to trim its loss for 2025 so far to 10.7%.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.
Stocks jumped 2.1% in Hong Kong and 1.8% in Shanghai after China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration issued a notice ordering financial institutions to help develop consumer finance and encourage use of credit cards, do more to aid borrowers who run into trouble, and be more transparent in their lending practices.
Iron ore futures rebounded to CNY 795 per tonne from the two-month low of CNY 770 touched on March 10th, tracking other assets that benefit from higher economic activity in China after officials in Beijing announced they will implement a batch of measures to boost consumption. Besides the support for manufactured goods, the measures are expected to combat China's prolonged property crisis and prevent more developers from being liquidated, which are among the world's top steel consumers. Still, expectations that steel output may slow this year capped a higher rebound. The Chinese government stated they will cut capacity for steel producers, speculated by markets to equivalate cuts of around 50 million tons of steel per year. The capacity caps would target increasing concerns of overcapacity among blast furnaces and mills, stemmed by lower construction demand due to the country’s property crisis and a decreasing ability to offload steel to foreign customers.
!summarize #aaronrodgers #nygiants #russellwilson #nfl #quarterback
The Nikkei 225 Index climbed 0.71% to close at 37,053, while the broader Topix Index edged up 0.65% to 2,716 on Friday, as investors snapped up beaten-down technology stocks. Despite the rebound, market sentiment remained fragile amid escalating global trade tensions. In the latest trade dispute, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on all alcoholic products from the European Union, retaliating against the bloc’s 50% tariff on American whiskey. Meanwhile, investors continued to monitor Bank of Japan policy signals, as Governor Kazuo Ueda reaffirmed plans to reduce the central bank’s massive balance sheet. Leading the tech rally were Fujikura (8.1%), Advantest (+5.3%), Disco (+3.7%), SoftBank Group (1%), and Tokyo Electron (+0.8%). Still, the Nikkei and Topix indexes ended the week little changed, inching up 0.45% and 0.27%, respectively.
!summarize #trump #tariff #canada #trudeau
!summarize #rafaeldevers #redsox #boston #dh #3rdbase
!summarize #dating #relationships #marriage #divorce
!summarize #economy #commercesecretary