RECOM Blog

Translate, hold to ear. Google Translate's two new tricks:

On iPhone, "listening mode" lets you hold the phone to your ear like a call and hear a translation of whoever's talking, no earbuds needed.

On Android, Live Translate now runs in the background, so you can check the map or your hotel confirmation without killing the conversation.

Both are rolling out now. Fall trip booked? Update the app before you go.

Your car is broadcasting your contacts: Ever paired your phone with a rental car? Your contacts, call log and texts are probably still sitting in that dashboard for the next driver to scroll through.

Before you return it, tap the car's Settings > Bluetooth (or Phone), find your name and hit Delete or Forget.

Same goes for the loaner from the dealership and your buddy's truck. Your phone book doesn't need a road trip of its own.

Gmail can make an email self-destruct. Draft your message, click the lock icon at the bottom of the compose window and pick an expiration date. It’s called Confidential Mode, and it also blocks forwarding, copying, printing and downloading. When the clock runs out, poof, the email is gone. 

A person received a text from her bank asking whether she had made an online purchase of a $1,200 laptop. The charge was put on hold, awaiting her response. The message appeared legitimate because it came from a number that had previously sent valid fraud alerts. Person replied, “No.” The bank texted back that because the purchase was unauthorized, the card was frozen and person was instructed to call its fraud department.

If you haven’t done this already, sign up to receive text messages, emails and even phone calls from your financial institution so they can reach you in various ways about suspicious activity for every one of my bank accounts, credit cards and investment accounts.

So, when you get that text, email or phone call, double-check it’s truly your financial institution trying to reach you. Look up the phone number on the back of your debit or credit card or statement to call your bank. DON’T rely on an online search, you have to be careful you don’t land on a fake site.  While waiting to speak with a bank representative check your email for additional notifications about the compromised card.

Rather than hacking your phone or spoofing your bank’s number, fraudsters use automated bots to submit your email address to hundreds of online sign-up forms simultaneously. The scammer’s objective is to flood your email inbox so you overlook real-time alerts from your bank. This buys the thief or criminal syndicate time to complete unauthorized transactions, hide account change notices or access other compromised accounts.

Here is how to protect yourself if this happens to you:

·         Treat a flood of messages as a warning sign. If you get swamped with an unusually large amount of email, assume a financial account or credit card has just been breached and respond to any real-time alerts right away.

·         Resist the urge to respond to the messages. Except for contacting your financial institution, don’t do anything else. Cybercriminals often link email bombing with bogus help desk impersonation scams. They want to trick you into granting them remote access to your computer so they can steal data or charge you fraudulent fees, or both. Don’t click on anything”. If you’re not sure what to do, you can get free help by contacting the Identity Theft Resource Center at 888-400-5530 or visit idtheftcenter.org.

·         An offer of help is part of the con. If someone calls or sends a pop-up offering to clean up your inbox, ignore it. It is not Microsoft, Apple or Google calling. It’s most certainly the scammer reaching out.

·         Check your accounts immediately. Log into your banking and credit card apps to check for pending charges you haven’t authorized.

·         Do a search before you purge. Look for terms such as “password,” “order confirmation,” or the names of your financial institutions to preserve key alerts.

·         Then, do a deep dive into your email. Look for authentic alerts hidden in the noise. After making sure that no financial notifications were buried in the pile, the reader said, “I did bulk deletions for most of the items.”

Under the federal Fair Credit Billing Act, you can avoid being held responsible for unauthorized charges, provided you notify your card issuer within 60 days from the date it sends out your credit card statement.

Although email bombing isn’t a new scam strategy, its frequency has exploded in the past couple of years. Cybersecurity firm eSentire reported that email-bombing and impersonation attacks surged 1,450 percent in 2025 compared to the year before, with fraudsters using the inbox flood to distract their targets.

There are several reasons why you may receive an email notifying you that your password is about to expire. These include:

• You haven't changed it in the last 365 days
• We've asked all admin users to change their passwords for security reasons

To better protect your account, WildApricot passwords expire after 365 days. In the event WildApricot requires you to change or update your password prior to the expiration date, you will be notified by email and a pop-up notification from your WildApricot admin backend.

Password requirements

• 12 characters or more
• both upper and lower case letters
• at least one number
• at least one of the following special characters: #?!@$%^&*- 
• no spaces

Note: WildApricot passwords are case-sensitive.

Beat the phone tree. When the robot answers, say, “I need to cancel my service” or “I’m returning a call.” Straight to a human. Asked for your account number? Hit #. Stuck in a loop? Babble some nonsense three times, and most systems transfer you.

The secret button on the back of your iPhone.... Double-tap the back of your iPhone, and the flashlight comes on. Triple-tap for a screenshot. You choose. Settings, search Back Tap, assign double and triple. Works through most cases.

Make your passwords impenetrable. Pick four random words, like coffee-tractor-maple-September, that would take centuries to crack. Of course you will need to memorize it or write it down.....

Can I trust a text claiming to be from the IRS? The agency is changing its mind about SMS alerts. Here's what it will and won't send to your phone

Story by Chris Morris  Aug 21 2026

There’s a prominent page on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website that says, in part, “Taxpayers need to remember that the IRS will not contact them by text message. (1)“

Under new digital rules, though, the tax agency may, in fact, reach out to people via their phones, but not for anything to do directly with their taxes.

How do I know if the IRS is texting me?

It’s important, before anything else, to point out that the IRS will only text you if you opt in for messages. If you haven’t and get a text purporting to be from the agency, it’s almost certainly a scam.

If you have opted in, pay attention to the short code that sends the text. That’s the number that will appear on your phone as the sender. Short codes aren’t phone numbers; they’re 5- or 6-digit numbers designed for high-volume, automated messaging. You’ve likely seen them if a site has texted you a code for two-factor authentication.

The IRS uses two short codes: 91040 and 34381. The short code you will see depends on the type of text sent (3).

Why would the IRS be texting me?

The IRS will only text taxpayers for three reasons:

1. News bulletins — These alert you to new regulations and criminal investigations into tax cases. It’s a text version of the agency’s press releases.
2. Upcoming appointments — If you have an in-person appointment with a representative at the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center, you can elect to receive confirmations and reminders. These will let you know when it’s your time to be seen or confirm you have checked in, but they will never send a clickable link.
3. Callbacks — Rather than waiting on hold to speak to an IRS agent, which can chew up more than 5 hours at peak times, the IRS will let you get in the queue for a digital callback service (4). The IRS will send you a text right before it calls you back. These alerts come only from the short code 34381.

What red flags should I look for?

If the text is written in a high-pressure tone, mentioning penalties or requesting immediate contact, it’s likely a scam.

Any links that come in a text from the IRS should also send up a red flag. Clicking those will likely send you to a Website that is used to steal your personal information (1) or plant malware.

Additionally, be on the lookout for a phone number to call. The IRS doesn’t send those out.

“The IRS urges taxpayers not to click links or open attachments from unexpected messages and to report suspicious IRS-related emails, DMs and texts,” the agency wrote in its 2026 Dirty Dozen report (5). “The IRS reported over 600 social media impersonators during fiscal year 2025.”

3-second tech genius: Want a Facebook photo without all the buttons and junk around it? Skip the screenshot. 

In the Facebook mobile app, tap the photo to open it, hit the three dots, then choose Save to phone.

It drops straight into your gallery, full quality. No cropping required.