Hello, friends, it’s Thursday! All over social media, people are stumped by this riddle. Ready? I have keys but no locks and no rooms. You can enter, but you cannot go outside. What am I? The answer’s at the end.

💖 Show some love to today’s sponsor, Incogni. Your Social Security number, address, financial info and a lot more are on the web. Removing it all yourself is so time-consuming. Incogni does the hard work for you. Check them out to support our free newsletter. Thank you! — Kim

You may not be looking for love online, but many people are. Tinder says about 40% of couples meet via apps. Whoa.

There are happily ever-afters, of course, but for some, dating apps are a complete nightmare. Let's take a look at the dark underbelly.

Dating disasters

There are countless stories (Mother Jones paywall link). A 21-year-old named Laura matched with a guy on Bumble and Tinder. She rejected him and he went off the rails, so she researched his phone number. He wasn't the hot 22-year-old his profile showed; he was a 55-year-old registered sex offender.

A woman in Milwaukee went on a date with a guy she met on Match. She woke up confused the next morning, not remembering what happened. Her car was gone, there were $800 in charges on her debit card, and she was likely drugged. As if that's not enough, the man is currently a "person of interest" in a murder case.

Aspiring actor Matthew Herrick was accosted by 1,000 men, some of whom even broke into his apartment building and showed up at his workplace. He never actually matched with these people. Herrick's ex created a bunch of fake dating profiles on Grindr using his name and pictures — which was easy since the app didn't require any verification.

The dirty details

These stories aren't unique and happen to more people than you'd think. A recent Pew Research survey shows:

• 38% of online daters received an unwanted sexually explicit message.
• 30% continued to receive contact from someone after they told them they weren't interested.
• 24% were called an offensive name.
• 6% of users experienced a threat of physical harm. 

Don't forget about scammers: 52% of users believe they've encountered at least one scam — 63% of men under 50 and 44% of women of any age.

A safe search for love

Looking for love online today comes with a warning, but you don't have to throw in the towel. Practice these tips to find your new sweetie safely:

• Look for a verified profile badge. Tinder, Bumble, Hinge and OkCupid have them. If they're verified, they're not using fake photos. 
• Keep an eye out for photos that look overly edited. Try a reverse image search to see if the photo pops up somewhere else.
• Only talk to new matches through the app. If they want to immediately take things to text or another app, that's a red flag. 
• Try to video chat with a match before you meet them in person. 
• Steer clear of people who want to meet up immediately or don't want to meet at all. 
• Always meet dates in public and let friends or family know where you are. Take your own transportation so you can bolt if you feel uncomfortable.

💋 If you know someone trying to find love, pass this along — not to scare them, but so they can know what to watch for! One more thing: Be careful of anyone who says they live in a “gated” community … It could be prison.

For data brokers, your personal information is big business. They collect your Social Security number, birthdate, address, health info, contact details, you name it — and sell it to the highest bidder. It’s nearly impossible to remove all that from the web yourself.

That’s where Incogni comes in. It’s a personal data-removal service that scrubs your info from the web. They handle the hard work for you. Seriously, it’d take hundreds of hours to do it all on your own.

If you’ve ever agreed to a privacy policy online (we all have!), this is a solid way to protect yourself from identity theft, health insurers jacking up your rates, robocalls and more.

👁 AI eyes: Looks like AI-powered eye scans can detect Parkinson’s disease before any symptoms appear. A new study shows a 3D scan, optical coherence tomography, can identify markers of Parkinson’s an average of seven years before signs of disease. Amazing stuff.

Hello, hola, bonjour: Meta is out of the metaverse and all in on artificial intelligence (AI) with SeamlessM4T. Meta says it can recognize nearly 100 languages and translate text and speech. This kind of tech is world-changing, folks. Who knows if Meta’s will win out, but expect more developments on this. Universal translator?

Creep alert: A woman says her ex used an Alexa device to stalk her and eavesdrop. The creep allegedly gave her an Echo linked to his Amazon account. Takeaway: Don’t use a smart device someone else has access to. Have an ex in your life? Protect yourself.

LinkedIn* is cool: Given the mess Elon’s making of X and how people are now deserting Facebook, there’s a new (old) social media site, Bloomberg reports (paywall link). It’s LinkedIn! Yep, people chatting and posting their thoughts. And yeah, scammy hot women are looking for love there, too.

🐕‍🦺 I knew it: Dogs listen to women more than men. Researchers used fMRI scanners to analyze our furry friends’ brains and found greater sensitivity to women’s speech. The more exaggerated way women speak to dogs might be part of it. If you need a smile, here’s a short vid of my Abby living her best life.

See ya: Can’t find the Windows Mail and Windows Calendar apps? Microsoft is giving them the ax. Instead, you’ll get free access to Outlook for Windows. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles as the version included with Microsoft 365, though, so don’t get too excited.

👶 Tech baby: Parents, listen up. Babies and toddlers who spend over four hours a day in front of a screen are more likely to have communication, motor skill and problem-solving delays. Researchers in Japan looked at the screen times spent by more than 7,000 kids. The WHO says kids under a year old should get no screen time and, before the age of two, no more than an hour a day.

AI interior designer: Wayfair’s new web-based app, Decorify, uses AI to style your room — and sell you all the furniture. Upload a pic of your space, choose a style and you’ll get options. Yay: You don’t have to download anything new to use it. Boo: It only works on living rooms right now.

Sound like a tech pro, even if you're not one. Try my award-winning, daily podcast. Search for my last name with "K" wherever you get your podcasts and "Go Komando!"

Listen to my podcast, Kim Komando Today, here.

You're telling a friend about a product or TV show, then you see an ad for it in your browser or on social media. Feel like you're being watched? You're not alone.

• 80% of Americans worry about companies following them via ad tracking.
• 60% believe phones are listening to them.
• 74% are convinced smart home devices are always listening.
• 60% believe the government is tracking their phone data.
• 13% have considered buying a “dumb” phone to limit how much data they’re putting out there.

The survey of over 800 people shows that it's not just boomers feeling stress; millennials are just as worried about ad tracking.

As for the government tracking phone data, Gen X, Gen Z and millennials all outnumber the older generation when it comes to distrust.

The bottom line: As long as you’re using a connected device, someone’s watching what you do. But you can fight back! 

Here are detailed tips for taking back your privacy. → 

🦟 I’ll never forget the time Mom smacked a mosquito on her arm and said, “Got you, you little mother sucker!” I laughed for days. Dang, I miss her so much.

Google always seems to know just what you want, and it’s not in your head. It tracks every search, click, message and request. Now and then, clear your search history and activity. Here’s how:

• Go to myaccount.google.com and log in.
• Click Data & privacy in the left-hand menu.
• You’ll see checkmarks next to Web & App Activity, Location History and YouTube History. Click each one to adjust your settings. Toggle them Off to stop further tracking if you choose.

Pro tip: You can also set up auto-delete to clear future activity every three, 18 or 36 months. I highly suggest you enable it.

🏃‍♀️ Keep going! 3 more Google privacy settings to change →

It’s easy to make this Wookiee mistake.

The answer: A keyboard. By the way, a standard QWERTY keyboard usually has about 104 keys. The other day, I got so mad at my PC that I threw the keyboard. That’s when the shift hit the fan.

Thanks for being here and for showing some love to help support our work and this free newsletter by checking out today’s partner, Incogni. It’s a slick service, for sure! — Kim