By Jeanne Erickson
Publication Date: 2026-03-28 12:57:00
Google is making it harder for scammers to steal your identity — and the effort can’t come soon enough.
The tech giant quietly updated its “Results about you” tool on Feb. 10, expanding it to allow users to scrub even more sensitive personal information from search results — including passport numbers, driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers — on top of the phone numbers, emails and home addresses the original tool already covered.
The timing is no accident.
In 2025, the FTC received 3 million fraud reports from consumers who lost a staggering $15.9 billion to scammers, according to FTC Associate Director Lois Greisman, who testified before the Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday.
Identity theft can devastate victims in ways that go far beyond a drained bank…
