That Google search for your bank login could be a trap

Typing your bank's name into Google feels harmless. I get it, I do it too. But here's the thing: it isn't always safe.

On yesterday's episode, Juliet and I broke down a Justice Department case from September 8. A man got extradited for running fake bank login pages. These knuckleheads paid Google for ad placement so their fake site showed up first, right above the real bank. More than 5,000 usernames and passwords got stolen that way. That's part of $262 million lost to account takeovers since last January. It's a big deal.

Here's my fix, and it's simple. Bookmark your bank's real login page and use that every single time. If you're on your phone, use the bank's app instead of going through a browser. And never, ever log in through a sponsored link, no matter how official it looks.

Card surcharges are pushing people back to cash

More stores are tacking on a fee, usually 3%, when you pay with a credit card. In full disclosure, my own practice does this too. The Federal Reserve found four out of five of us used cash in the last month, and 90% plan to keep doing it.

There are a few rules most people don't know, and I want you to know them:

• Visa caps credit card surcharges at 3%, and the store has to post that fee at the door, at the register, and on your receipt
• Debit and prepaid cards can't be charged a surcharge at all, only credit cards
• Mastercard, Amex, and Discover don't follow that same 3% Visa cap

So if you see a surcharge and it wasn't posted anywhere, you can push back on that. Don't just eat it.

A scam that calls you from inside a prison

This one's rough to hear, but you need to hear it. A Wall Street Journal report found people in prison using smuggled cell phones to call families of folks who just got arrested. They pull that from public arrest records. Then they call pretending to be a bail bondsman and tell you to pay right now. One man sent $12,000 through Cash App before he figured out it was fake. Georgia's Department of Corrections put out its own warning about this over the summer.

Listen to me: no real bail process happens over the phone through Cash App, a gift card, or cryptocurrency. Not one. If you get a call like this, hang up and call the jail directly using the number from its official website.

Can you blame your tax software when it messes up?

I told a story yesterday that still bugs me. I had a client come in who used TurboTax and got an $8,000 refund, way more than the $2,000 they usually owe. Turns out the software let them claim the standard deduction and itemized deductions at the same time. You only get one or the other. The IRS caught it and sent them a bill for $10,000, that's the refund clawed back plus what they actually owed.

I did some digging before the show. About 45% of returns this year were self-prepared, and in a 2026 survey, only 42% of filers felt confident they'd filed correctly. Almost a third worried they'd missed a deduction.

Here's the part I really want you to remember. There's an IRS rule called reasonable reliance on a third party. If I make a mistake on your return, the IRS will usually waive the penalty, not the interest, but the penalty, because I'm a credentialed professional. TurboTax doesn't count as that third party. So if the software talks you into something bad, you're the one left holding it.

This week's money move

Write down every subscription you're paying for and cancel at least one. My tip: download your credit card statement as a CSV, black out anything personal, and hand it to an AI tool to group your spending by vendor. That'll show you exactly where your money's leaking out.

Today I've got Jason Bochniak joining me, he's a mortgage pro, and we're talking current interest rates, refinancing, and first-time homebuyer questions. If you've got one for him, leave it at becomingfinanciallyconfident.com/voicemail.