We are committed to empowering American's to manage and protect their credit and personal information, and who has access to that information. With StolenIDSearch, you now have direct access to this information and know immediately if your information has been compromised.

Step 1: Do a free StolenID search:

Use all email addresses, all addresses with as many variations of your addresses as you can.

Step 2: Google yourself and set up a Google Alert:

Even if you share your name with Britney Spears or Paris Hilton you can see if Google has captured your personal data-data that is openly exchanged on the internet. In 99.9% of all cases of identity theft, the name of the victim and the zip code have been sold together. Follow the instructions below to search for your information.

Search #1 - Detect

a. Open the Google home page www.google.com

b. Type in your postcode/zip within quotation marks "" e.g. "94065-1234" and search.

c. When the results appear scroll to the top of the page and click on the "Advance search" tab by the main search tab.

d. You will see your postcode/zip appear in the box marked "this exact wording or phrase". Type your first and last name in the box above marked "all these words". Again within "" i.e "John Smith" and enter. This should have reduced the results of your search greatly. Now you can see what data is on the internet that is associating you with your postcode.

e. Repeat the search with any other postcode with which you are associated, such as a place of work.

f. Complete a new search for your email address i.e. "info@lucidintelligence.com" again within quotation marks "". Repeat for as many email addresses as you possess.

Once completed you will know what the World Wide Web knows about you up until the time you finished the searches!

Search #2 - Protect

Go to www.google.com and click on "More" in the line of options at the top. Scroll down the list of options and click on "even more", which is the bottom option. A new page will appear. Click on the top left hand side option "alerts". A new page will appear, advising you that a verification message will be sent to you. Then, click on "return to Google alerts".

A box marked Google alert appears. Put in your first and last name in the box marked search terms. Leave "type" as "comprehensive" and "how often" as "once a day". Insert the email address you wish the alert to be sent to. Press "create alert".

A new page will appear advising you that a verification message will be sent to you, however click on "return to Google alerts".

Repeat the above procedure, but this time insert your postcode/zip, encased in quotation marks. e.g. "94065-1234" and proceed as before.

Repeat the procedure entering your email addresses encased in quotation marks. eg. "info@lucidintelligence.com".

You will now be warned by Google each time they detect a new entry within your search terms. In the USA, zip codes cover a far greater area than the UK. If you find that you are getting too many results you may find it easier to use the 1st line of your address instead.

Step 3: Get a free credit report

Get your free annual credit report. You are entitled to a free report from each of the credit bureaus once a year and can order this from each credit bureau's website.

Step 4: Get Identity Theft protection

The best way to proactively protect your identity is to cover you and your family with comprehensive identity theft services. Thieves are getting more sophisticated everyday and our ability to manage our information's safety on our own is now very difficult. An identity theft protection service will provide you with sophisticated monitoring and scoring to help protect your identity and provide you with both monetary and professional assistance to restoring your identity in the unlikely event that it becomes compromised.

All of the data in the database has been in criminal hands and made available on the internet. It comes from sources as disparate and familiar as bulletin boards or chatrooms. Additionally, it comes from ftp sites, which are the virtual street corners where trades for data sales are completed. Sometimes files are made available as downloads from websites posing as marketing sites. These sites are often a one-stop shop for spam and phishing operators. Some of the data has been obtained by "social engineering". These are carried out by highly skilled operators who engage with the criminal and who effectively "scam the scammers".

When people browse the internet and join websites by creating accounts or signing up to online services they are often required to provide some information such as their contact details, some identification details, where services are sold, or financial details. While the website that initially gathers the information may do so for legitimate purposes, the site may be compromised by external agents (hackers) or by employees. Sometimes the sites are set up solely to gather data so that it can be resold. Where possible, we care to note both where the data was originally captured and where we found it.

A worldwide network of sources from all walks of life who have chosen to fight crime where they see it, described by a Police contact as a "neighborhood" watch for a particular part of the internet used by criminals.

No. We use the personal data you enter to initiate your search to search the database. Once that is complete that information is destroyed.

No we do not.

We want to protect your information so before we show the information available, we ask that you verify that you are that individual. Once that verification is completed and you have indicated an interest in the information for a small fee, we will release the information in full. We will show you all aspects of the personal information about yourself that has been in criminal hands by indicating the sort of data they hold e.g. name, address, email etc.

There are two main reasons:

A criminal having your personal details and email address is not the same as a legitimate marketing company holding the same details about you. The criminal will never send you a legitimate email to you, it will either be an inducement to fall victim of fraud, a phishing email or one containing a virus. Because the criminal can personalize the email using the details they know about you they know it will increase their "success" rate.

An analogy to make would be if the Police arrested a burglar and when they searched his house they discovered a telephone directory. Nothing unusual there however what if that same telephone directory belonging to the burglar had names and addresses highlighted throughout? Do you think those people who were highlighted would consider themselves more at risk of falling victim to the burglar?

a) Contact your bank/credit card company and tell them you wish to have either additional secret questions to the usual "mother's maiden name" or "date of birth" or to replace them entirely. If we have assessed you as medium/high risk a criminal will be able to answer these questions easily with the most basic research with the information they already hold. Do not pick a question like "what is my favorite team" as they are just as easy to guess. Be abstract but it must be memorable for example "what is the subject in the picture on my front room wall above the fireplace" or "favorite hotel".

b) Use disposable passwords for websites you need to register on and don't use the same one elsewhere. If you need to go back to it, once you have entered your email address (user name) they invariably have a query "Forgotten your password" which they will then send to your email address once ticked.

c) Do as many free credit checks on yourself as you can at regular intervals, if you can afford professional protection obtain a product that notifies you each time a credit check is carried out on yourself.

d) Complete the 4 simple steps.

You are free to review that information. Just follow the steps as outlined in our Search and Protect area.

You will be required to validate your identity before any such data will be released and provide payment from a credit card in the name of the person making the application.

Initial searches are free of charge. If there is a match for the information that you search for, we will show you a limited summary of what is held. A key part of that information will be an evaluation of the risk that that data poses to you. If you wish to see the full report with all of the data that we found, you a small fee is required. Understandably, given the nature of this service, you will need to complete a series of identity checks before we release data to you. At no point in the search and ID verification process will we show data that you have not already entered.

For the past 4 years the details of every credit card that we have discovered on the internet has been reported to the authorities responsible for communicating with credit card issuers. To date we have supplied the details of several hundred thousand compromised credit cards and been responsible for saving of in excess of $350,000 to both victims and credit card issuers.

Credit Card issuers are commercial organizations and as such any decisions they make are based upon what is best for their organization - which may not always be the best for the credit card holder. By providing the details via law enforcement we ensure that a record is available of when the issuer was informed and this may be used to assist the card holder should they experience any subsequent complications with the issuer.

As previously stated the credit card issuer has to make a commercial decision when informed of the compromise. A credit card is costly to replace and they may deal with information in several different ways including:

1. If the card is due for renewal in the near future they may issue the new card earlier.

2. Many credit card details that are stolen are never used, the issuer may decide to monitor the credit card use and only cancel the card should any unusual activity take place.

If you are happy that your card issuer has given you all the information associated with the compromise then you do not need to see what information we hold about you. Many times, however, the victim is only informed that the card was compromised. They are left unaware that, apart from the card details being in the hands of the criminal, other personal details may also have been lost - which may lead to further problems in the future.

Hackers and phishers hold stores of credit card details, many of which are never sold or used. They tend to sell them in batches and your card may have been in one such batch that contained current and expired credit cards. The criminals buying the batch expect that not all the cards will be current and that is factored into the price they pay.

Many credit card issuers utilize the same number from the expired card when they issue a new card. Details of companies and websites that accept payment without the necessity of having a CVV (security number) are commonplace among the criminals and they will attempt to use the details in such places. If you have a current credit card that has the same number as the expired card, details of which you have obtained from our website, you will need to check with your credit card issuer that they are aware of the previous compromise. Ensure that a record of your report to them is kept, in case there is a future compromise.

It may not be the credit card details that they are purchasing but the personal details that are available with it. We will have assessed the additional data available and that will be reflected in your risk score.

It probably means that we did not discover the details of your compromised card until after it had been used. Many of the more sophisticated credit card fraudsters will use a compromised card and then circulate it for sale on the internet. It is then picked up by the smaller fry fraudster who will use the card and unwittingly cover the trail of the sophisticated fraudster.

Contact your credit card company immediately and inform them of this discovery. Also, based on the details we hold, you may need to change any identification details that you use with financial institutions or other service providers.

You have been lucky. As previously stated many cards that have been compromised have never been used because the criminals have so many to choose from. We strongly suggest you cancel this card and ask for a replacement.

We may have depending upon how your data was recovered. If we could readily identify your bank account details, we will have tried to contact your bank. One of the other difficulties in notifying a bank is that, unlike the one contact point we have at the notifying the authorities and credit card institutions, there is no similar organization for banks worldwide.

Obviously the more information the scammers have about you the more attractive you are to them. That "one" further piece of personal information they hold about you is pivotal in their decisions as to whether to target you.

If fraudsters have your date of birth, with basic research they can put your personal details together with your date of birth and they will be able to find the answers to most of the personal questions that you are likely to be asked by any financial institution such as Mother's maiden name etc.

If they have your email address and password they can take advantage of the fact that you, like many others use the same password/secret answer for the websites you use requiring registration. Together with your email address, which very often is your "Username", the scammers have plenty of incentive to surf various websites, where you may be a member.

If your Social Security Number is compromised the possession of your SSN together with associated personal data makes it very easy with minimal additional research to compromise a victim's identity.

Substitute the words "user name" for "email address" and it becomes fairly obvious. Most websites that you have to register on use the email address as your user name. If the hacker has obtained your email and password from such a website he will be able:

To alter, add or copy any of your other personal details you have included when you registered with the website.

To obtain credit card details if you have purchased something from the website.

By taking note of the nature of the website with which you have registered, the hacker may visit similar sites to see if you have registered with them using the same password.

The hacker will try social networking sites using the email and password and this not only opens up further aspects of your life but those of your friends.

The worst case scenario occurs when the hacker, knowing your email domain can gain access to your emails. Not only are all your personal communications exposed but they now have the ability to deliver Viruses and Trojans to your network of friends or work colleagues from your email address, which they will automatically trust, as you are the sender.

At some point in time you have responded to either a "Work from home" or "Representative Agent" scam email. By the very nature of these frauds you will have been required by the scammer to provide further personal information which will have included your bank account details. We will have picked up your details from the lists of potential victims that the scammers use in order to send stolen or forged checks. These will only include the details we have recorded.

We frequently identify particular family surnames that the scammers are researching to target for the "Dead relative" scam. These surnames are usually picked from the lists of victims who have perished as a result of a major accident or natural disaster (the Concorde crash in France and the Tsunami for example). Your surname is one of those which has been researched and you will suffer increased phishing and scam email attacks. As these emails have a personal touch rather than just a blanket approach they are often opened without a second thought.

There is no benefit to a fraudster in inventing a date of birth for you. That leaves two possible explanations:

We have identified what we believe to be your date of birth from amongst the information that has been circulated about you. There is the possibility that the date shown is actually the answer to the secret question "what is a memorable date to you?" Or you have been suspicious about the phishing email or website to which you have given your personal details and have given an incorrect date of birth. If all your other details that we hold are correct, this is the most likely scenario.

The field called "website/source" is where the details are recorded by the hacker/phisher or data supplier indicating from where the personal data was obtained. Sometimes this will be shown as www.yrehegdfs.com or sometimes this may be just a descriptive word. Only the person to whom the data applies will know whether they have visited the "website/source" as shown.

The "source" field is where we found the data. This may contain:

a) The name of a message board on which the data was found.

b) The email address of the seller

c) The email address of the buyer

d) The date of the capture.

If there are no details in the "website/source" field then we do not have that information. If there is no entry in the "source" field then please retry the same search at a later date as we are now working our way back through the records in an attempt to identify a "source" for each entry.

We assess you as Low Risk if the only data we were able to locate, relating to you, was only sufficient to do no more than allow someone to address a letter or e-mail to you. This in itself would not allow an unauthorized or unknown potential fraudster to interfere with your details or make transactions in your name. Only after he had made contact and had gleaned further information from you would you be at serious risk from their activities.

Whilst the criminals have limited information about you, you are at little risk of identity theft unless there is a particular crime to which you fit the profile of the victim. This would tend to be a fraud based around an unusual name as is the case with the 'Dead Relative' scam. You will be subject to increased spam and phishing and should be wary of emails you receive from sources that are not in your normal email contacts and in particular those that ask you to open any attachment. You should ensure that you have up to date anti-virus and firewall software.

Protect yourself - Be Proactive.

The criminals have enough information about you to use your identity. To compromise your identity would involve time and possibly money to the scammer however as they will have sufficient details about you and your property you should be particularly aware of targeted personalized emails from unknown source.

You will receive increased general spam and phishing attacks and should be wary of emails you receive from sources that are not in your normal email contacts and in particular those that seek for you to open any attachment. You should ensure that you have up to date anti-virus and firewall software.

Protect yourself - Be Proactive.

Where scammers have credit card details there is a clear risk of theft from you through fraudulent use of your card details. More pertinent to your long term risk are the details that often accompany the card information: key identifiers such as social security numbers, dates of birth, answers to secret questions, and mother's maiden name. Crucially, where both a password and an email address are present, the risk to you is multiplied as your email address is often where you receive reminders of passwords and other sensitive emails.

As with those at low and medium risk, you will receive increased spam and phishing attacks. The criminals have sufficient additional information about you that with the minimum research they will be able to adopt/use your identity.

Protect yourself - Be Proactive.

We will undertake to remove any entry concerning your personal data. However, for your protection and in order that we can be absolutely confident that we are dealing with you and not a fraudulent party, you must have followed the identity verification process before any such request will be considered.