Garlik launches email checker in fight against ID theft

"We have three levels of email alerts. The first is an advisory alert. You may have information in publicly accessible databases such as the electoral roll or Companies House. This is nothing to worry about but if we find that information we just inform the user.

"The second level is when people have disclosed too much information, such as name, address, phone number and email.

"We find we pick up a lot of this information from social-networking sites, clubs and message boards because people haven't been careful or have not realised the dangers," he said.

He warned this information is just the kind of start criminals who want to commit identity theft need.

The third kind of alert is when Datapatrol picks up information it finds on sites and message boards used by criminals.

"We call it the dark web and if we find someone's personal data there it means they are at immediate risk of fraud. The criminals are trading all forms of personal data including bank details, credit and debit card numbers, phone numbers and physical addresses and phone numbers," he said.

As an introduction to this service, it has cut the price of Datapatrol to £19.99 for a 12-month subscription; down from £45.