Google Alerts

Although there is a possibility that all of you will think I'm completely lame for just finding out about this service recently, I am willing to take that risk in order to benefit the greater good.

Google Alerts is a service that will send you email updates about any topic that you want. For example, if you can't stand to miss out on the latest news on Jamie Lynn's baby bump then you can sign up to be notified when anything concerning the subject is put up.

It can also be put to a much more "noble" use. The first I heard about Google Alerts was when a lady on a message board that I frequent posted about a problem she was having. She ran some sort of riding school business, and she had a Google Alert set up for her farm name, business name and contact information. One of the emails she received alerted her to an ad that had been posted using her farm name, business name AND her name, but with different contact information. When she contacted the advertiser (pretending to be interested in riding lessons for her kids), she was told that they were located in Africa and they could either send the riding lessons directly to her address upon receipt of a money order or she could travel to Africa and pick them up in exchange for cash. Yeah... just box those riding lessons up for me, will you? Clearly the advertiser had no idea what the ad was about, and had just picked a professional looking ad in order to scam innocent people.

Obviously there are tons of scams out there, and any tools that help us protect ourselves are a bonus. This lady was able to contact the advertising site and get the false ads removed, hopefully preserving her farm's good reputation and minimizing the number of people scammed by unscrupulous evildoers. I now have a Google Alert update email sent to my inbox weekly with any results on my full name. I think it's a great idea.