Watch for Identity Theft Using Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a great way to set up a virtual personal watchdog that will constantly look for attempts at identity theft. This is much better than checking these values by hand periodically, since Google Alerts lets you set it and forget it. You'll be notified as soon as a thief posts your data online for others to use.

Steps

  1. Know how to set up Google Alerts. Read How to Use Google Alerts if you don't know what to do yet.
  2. Set up Google alerts for your key personal data. Here are some of the alerts you might consider running:
    • Your name
    • Your phone number
    • Your address (home and place of work)
    • Your date of birth (just to be safe)
    • Your license plate number
    • Your drivers license number
    • Your email address
  3. Read the alerts that Google will email you when the information you listed becomes published anywhere on the web that Google crawls. If any of these alerts are sent to you in a way you think indicates a potential identity theft, take immediate action.
    • Check the link(s) provided in the Google alerts. Look for anything unusual either within the sites you're sent to, or look for a pattern in general relating to the type of sites you're being alerted to (such as financial institutions, sites that hold security information, etc.)
    • Be especially alert if the returns with your personal details suddenly spike. You might get an occasional ping with your personal details from Google Alerts but if you notice a sudden increase in the amount of returns reaching your in-box, this is a cause for concern and should be investigated quickly.
  4. Seek help from a legal representative or the local police if you're not sure how to respond to an alert where identity theft appears to have occurred. You may need to respond quickly if it appears that fraud may be happening using your personal details. See the Related Articles below for further details on preventing and dealing with identity theft online.

Tips

  • Be aware of when you've put your own personal information out there on social networking sites, for domain addresses, etc. Try to be vigilant about checking privacy boxes to keep as much personal information as possible away from public eyes.
  • Be careful about what warnings you set. Because your search history is saved, and Google alerts are sent to your email address, you can inadvertently expose information you want to keep private using these techniques if someone were to access your email. Some things to avoid using in these alerts:
    • Your social security number
    • Your credit card numbers
    • Your bank account numbers
    • Your mother's maiden name, since banks and some other institutions use this as an identity check.
  • It is important to refine searches to help Google Alerts be the most efficient in returning the personal information. For example, you can enclose your name or address in quotation marks. You can also use plus and minus signs to narrow the returns to particular terms, names or information.

Warnings

  • Be aware that search terms don't always turn up the results you're seeking. This means that you may need to cover a few different ways of inputting your personal information or find some keywords that are good to accompany your personal details. Keep tweaking to get the best results.

Things You'll Need

  • Google Alerts
  • Internet access

Related Articles

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