USA Update

CHEVROLET and GMC drivers are being warned about a worrying trend of increased thefts targeting their vehicles.

A new study found that the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is the most frequently stolen car across the US, followed by other Chevrolet and GMC vehicles like the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado trucks.

Getty

Drivers across the US have been warned of the nation’s most-stolen cars[/caption]

Getty

Chevrolet and GMC vehicles like the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado trucks are among the top 20[/caption]

Getty

But the study found that the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is the most frequently stolen car across the country[/caption]

According to CBS News, which uses data from the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), these vehicles are being targeted due to vulnerabilities found in their keyless entry systems, as well their general desirability among thieves.

General Motors, which owns both brands, has since released software updates and security measures to address these issues, but drivers are being advised to remain vigilant and take necessary precautions.

The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which comes in a top spot, has a recorded theft rate that is 39 times higher than average for 2022 to 2024 models.

It’s believed thieves are simply drawn to its high horsepower and performance, while its on-board data ports are said to make it easier to steal.

Coming in second place is the Acura TLX 4WD, with a theft rate 21 times higher than average, while the standard Chevrolet Camaro comes in third.

The non-ZL1 version holds a theft rate 13 times higher than average.

Other frequently stolen vehicles include pickup trucks like the GMC Sierra, Chevrolet Silverado, Dodge Durango and luxury SUVs like the Range Rover and Cadillac Escalade.

Thieves generally prefer expensive, powerful vehicles, including muscle cars and pickup trucks – with muscle cars especially targeted.

Matt Moore, chief insurance operations officer at HLDI, said: “What all vehicles in the top 20 have in common is that they are relatively expensive, relatively powerful and in many cases they are pickup trucks.”

He added: “In the case of Camaro ZL1, it is very desirable to thieves, and, on top of that, there’s a vulnerability that makes it relatively easy to steal.

“Due to the vulnerability, with the right knowledge and right bits of technology, someone who can gain access to the inside of one of these Camaros can steal it relatively easily.”

Chevrolet and GMC drivers could, as a result, end up losing thousands of dollars, including the cost of replacing stolen vehicles, insurance deductibles, increased premiums, loss of personal items and indirect expenses from time and inconvenience.

On the other side, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids dominate the list of the least stolen cars, with examples including Tesla models such as the Model 3, Model Y, Model S, as well as the Volvo XC90, Ford Mustang Mach-E and Kia EV6.

EVs are considered harder to steal because of their connected technology and the need for regular charging – which often requires a garage.

Generally, it means these vehicles are less likely to be parked on streets overnight, which reduces theft opportunities.

Elsewhere, a motorist has lost her entire inheritance after shelling out $10,000 on a car she’s never seen.

And another driver said she was wasting hours bussing to work after paying for a vehicle that “broke down almost immediately.”

Both Maryland women, Tammie Skinner and Debra Godsey, have aired their grievances against a used car dealership in Baltimore, Maryland.

They claimed to ABC-affiliate WMAR-TV that they have lost thousands of dollars buying cars from Vehicle Veterans, a registered business in the state which offers a brokerage service.

They are among a “handful of customers” who have claimed the firm took advantage of them as they fight to recover their money.

A 2012 Chevrolet Traverse all-wheel drive LT delivered to Godsey broke down almost immediately, she said.

A tearful Skinner, who lives in Calvert County, explained how she had spent $10,000 in March – with the inheritance money coming from her late mom, who died in 2023.

The broadcaster told viewers that “to this day, she has no car, no savings and no easy way to get to doctor’s appointments after being diagnosed with a life-altering disease.”

A MAJOR US airline has unveiled new plans for a direct flight route to a popular city for the first time ever.

This will be a first for the aviation company as it plans to go transatlantic.

Getty

Alaska Airlines has unveiled plans for new routes[/caption]

Alaska Airlines

New flights will travel to the UK, Iceland and Japan[/caption]

New routes for major US airline

Alaska Airlines has unveiled a fresh livery and routes for its new Boeing 787s.

In an announcement on Tuesday, the airline called the new design its “first-ever global livery.”

This is part of a bid to set up more ambitious international routes following its $1.9billion acquisition on Hawaiian Airlines last September, Business Insider reports.

Among these international routes, London Heathrow will be a new destination from Seattle, and the longest 737 route by a US airline.

By next spring, the airline will operate a daily, non-stop service to London, using a Boeing 787.

The journey from Seattle to the British capital city takes roughly nine and a half hours.

The planes will also have a business class with fully lie-flat seats and privacy doors.

Business Insider believes this could be key for attracting new customers.

Alaska Airlines goes transatlantic

The acquisition added four Boeing 787 Dreamliners to the airline’s fleet, with another 13 on order.

The new planes will take to the sky on September 12 with a flight from Seattle to Seoul.

Flights to Tokyo begin on January 7, followed by flight to Rome in the spring.

The airline currently flies exclusively to destinations in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

However, these new unveiled plans will see flights soon take off to destinations further afield.

Alaska’s Dreamliners will also fly from Seattle to Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, from as early as next May.

Business Insider reports that it will use the narrow-body Boeing 737 Max – making it the longest route with such an aircraft operated by a US airline.

This route will take approximately seven hours, with daily flights available during the summer season.

The airline’s new venture

This new venture for Alaska Airlines is also being reflected with a redesigned livery, making this the first update since 2016.

For the Boeing 787s, they will receive an exterior design upgrade that the airline said is inspired by the northern lights.

Andrew Harrison, chief commercial officer, told Business Insider: “Our new 787 exterior embodies Alaska’s transition to a global airline with beauty, grace, and a nod to our heritage.

“As we significantly expand to new destinations around the globe, we’re eager for more and more travellers to recognize our new livery as being Alaska Airlines and appreciate the outstanding service we’ve long been known for.”

CBS golf reporter Amanda Balionis sent a message to her fans on social media.

Balionis, 39, came under fire earlier this year for a controversial interview.

Getty

Golf reporter Amanda Balionis has had a tough year on CBS[/caption]

Instagram / Amanda Balionis

But the reporter has made it through a rocky season on the tour and was in defiant mood.

She posted a message on her Instagram stories, where she has more than 350,000 followers.

The inspirational quote read, “If people don’t like you, it’s okay.

“You only need to be concerned if dogs don’t like you.

“Then it’s time for some self-reflection.”

Balionis added a caption along with the quote and a laughing emoji.

“If this ain’t the truth,” she said.

“If a dog is uninterested in me I assume my energy is way off and need to turn inward.”

Balionis was criticized after an interview with Rickie Fowler at the Charles Schwab Challenge in May.

Some fans called for her to be fired for being too negative.

Balionis revealed she was subjected to some “horrendous” messages after the interview.

But she has made it through to the end of an exhausting golf season on CBS.

The golf reporter shared a picture of the CBS golf crew outside a production truck after their final broadcast of the 2025 season.

It read, “Hard to put into words what 19 weeks on the road really looks like.

“For us announcers, we have it easy — we show up to work with hotel rooms already booked, everything we need waiting at check-in.

Getty

Amanda Balionis interviewing Scottie Scheffler after his PGA Championship win[/caption]

“Our headsets and mics work flawlessly, our sets are stocked, and our camera operators have been setting the scene for days.

“I say it all the time: what you see on CBS golf every Saturday and Sunday is just the final 10%.

“The other 90% is the result of tireless effort by so many hardworking, talented, and passionate men and women.

“Many of them are on the road for months without going home, waking up at 6 a.m. — or earlier — for crew calls, and staying well past the final putt.

“Our broadcast is nothing without our insanely talented technical and production crew.

“The work ethic is unmatched, but what blows me away most is how they still show up as the heartbeat of this team. They make the road feel like home.

“We have our ridiculous inside jokes, our family fights, our unforgettable nights out.

“We support each other when things get dark or lonely as they sometimes can.

“I can’t imagine weekends without my people, and I’m thankful every day to be a small part of this incredible whole.”

If all seems lost, plenty can change in that time — seemingly out of nowhere.

The CEO of an AI startup received a severed pig's head and a threatening note when his tech firm threatened to upend the "traditional brokerage" business in Las Vegas real estate.

The Bull reveals the business leader at short odds to be anointed Simon Trott’s successor at a powerful lobby group. Plus: A lunch recommendation for Michele Bullock’s board meeting on Tuesday.

Actor Varun Badola slams viral misquotes about Saiyaara, clarifying that his statements were taken out of context to defame the film.

In an interview given in 2012, Arjun Rampal had said that he “enjoyed” the intimate scene with Kareena Kapoor. The same statement has gone viral on social media, and users are very angry.

SHOPPERS have been warned to keep an eye out for scammers while using self-checkouts at Target. 

A sinister scheme has seen crooks adding extra items to their victim’s bills after offering them help. 

Getty

© 2023 Bloomberg Finance LP

The terrifying scam sees people approaching elderly shoppers in Target stores at the self-checkout lanes and offering them help. 

Then, according Andrew Peek, spokesperson for the San Mateo Police Department, they begin trying to force their victim to buy them products. 

Andrew said: “They build up rapport with the individual, and then kind of hit him with ‘I need food for my family’ or ‘we need some sort of baby supply’ or something like that.”

After the shopper agrees, the scammer will distract them whilst scanning several other items too. 

Shoppers have said that it has left them terrified to use the self-checkout lanes. 

One customer named Wendy Feng said: “It is very awful.

“And it’s kind of like stopping people from helping people anymore.”

How you can protect yourself from scammers

However, Amy Nofzinger, from the AARP Fraud Watch Network, says that there is a way to protect yourself from the scammers. 

Amy said: “Any time someone approaches you whether in person, over the phone or at your front door and you don’t know what they want, you kind of get nervous and scared and you don’t know what to say. 

“So in this situation I want people to understand it’s okay to say no,”

She says that you should prepare a script in your mind to use when scammers approach you. 

She added: “It can be anything like no I can’t do that for you today. 

“Or I have to check with my daughter who works for law enforcement.”

Another urgent warning to shoppers

The news comes after cybersecurity company McAfee issued an urgent warning to Amazon shoppers.

Abhishek Karnik, the Head of Threat Research at McAfee, warned that the number of online scams has skyrocketed following Donald Trump’s tariff war. 

He said: “As inflation and tariffs push more people to hunt for deals, scammers are using generative AI to craft scams that are more polished, personal, and persuasive.

“From retailer impersonations to hyper-realistic delivery scams, these threats are getting harder to spot.”

The cyber security company has shared five red flags to watch out for to help users stay safe online:

• Urgent language demanding immediate action (“Your account will be closed in 24 hours!”).
• Requests for payment via gift cards, wire transfers or cash.
• Claims that you need to “verify” or “legalise” your money.
• Transfers to “goverment agencies” during the same call.
• Pressure to keep the call secret or not hang up.

Abhishek added that Amazon will never call you about suspicious account activity or unauthorised purchases.

SOCIAL security bosses have backtracked after issuing a deadline on a policy change set to take effect later this month.

SSA announced that millions of Social Security recipients would either have to go online or travel to their nearest field office to get a personal identification number (PIN) for security purposes.

Getty

And the deadline for the $5,108 check recipients to get the PINs was set for August 18.

The SSA even estimated about 3.4 million additional visits to SSA field offices annually to manage and create PINs.

Without one, they would lose access to basic services like changing their address, checking their claim status, or requesting tax forms. 

But after a backlash from customers and experts, officials say the Secure Authentication PIN (SAP) system will be optional, not mandatory. 

Social Security recipients are now not required to visit a field office and can choose not to use a PIN.

“The intention of the expanded SAP feature in the filing was always to be optional,” an SSA spokesperson told Axios.

“The purpose of the feature is to improve the customer experience by providing a convenient and secure method for callers to verify their identity.”

“If a caller does not have a ‘my Social Security account’ or chooses not to use the SAP feature, the customer experience will be no different than it is today, and they will continue to use the existing authentication methods to verify their identity,” they added.

Still, the regulatory filing has not yet been amended to note this, but the SSA spokesperson confirmed to the publication that it would be making that action so the “optional” aspect is clear.

Concerns were immediately noted last month by experts like Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).

“This will create a significant burden, particularly for those who live in rural areas or have transportation or mobility difficulties,” Romig argued in a blog post.

“The Trump administration is rushing these changes with almost no public notice or feedback.”

CBPP findings also showed that most Social Security recipients live at least an hour’s drive round-trip from a SSA field office.

FRAUD FOCUS

With the PIN, the SSA is attempting to crack down on fraud, even though organizations like the CBPP argue the federal agency has yet to provide substantial evidence of the fraud it seeks to combat.

This spring, the SSA also rolled out anti-fraud software to help flag potential cases over the phone, per CBS News.

About 4.5 million phone-based claims come in yearly to the SSA, with about only about 70,000 cited for possible fraudulent activity.

Should an original proposed policy taking away identity verification over the phone that the federal agency also u-turned on in April have been put in place, about six million seniors would’ve had to go into field offices.

MONEY MOVE

The theme of fraud prevention also continues through the direct deposit change taking effect starting September 30.

It comes out of an executive order from The White House this summer that confirmed the US Department of the Treasury would no longer be sending out paper checks to Social Security recipients.

The White House said the mandate was not only a way to prevent fraud but also save money, as about $750 million is spent on paper checks each year.

Social Security recipients must sign up for direct deposit or another form of electronic payment by the deadline or they risk delaying distributions.

About 1.9 million additional SSA field office visits are expected with the direct deposit change.

The SSA commissioner also fired back at Democratic senators who recently criticized the federal agency over alleged “mismanagement” and “record backlogs.”

Americans are also at risk of having Social Security checks cut by more than $18,000.