How to set up a fake profile or deepfake alert in your name: get notified when your name, photos or face show up

1. What an alert can do, and what it can't

An alert is monitoring plus a heads-up. It tells you "something new has appeared". Looking and acting is up to you.

Keep two limits in mind. First, fake accounts on Instagram, TikTok or Facebook don't always show up in Google, and often show up late. Second, a deepfake is a new image: a reverse image search mostly finds copies of your existing photos, not necessarily a manipulated version. Friends and followers often spot things first, so ask them to tell you.

2. Set up a Google Alert for your name

Google Alerts emails you whenever Google finds new results matching the topic you follow. It's free and needs a Google Account.

1. Go to google.com/alerts.
2. In the box at the top, type what you want to follow (see the table below).
3. Click "Show options" to set how often you get notifications, the types of sites, your language, the part of the world, how many results you want and which account gets the alert.
4. Click "Create Alert".
5. Repeat for each variant: one alert per query is easier to read.

To stop an alert, click Delete next to it in Google Alerts, or "Unsubscribe" at the bottom of an alert email.

Which alerts to create. Quotation marks ask Google for an exact match, and a minus sign excludes a word.

Pick a frequency you'll actually read, and choose all results rather than only the best ones when you start. If your name is very common, add your city or job to cut the noise.

3. "Results about you": an alert when your contact details appear

Google offers a tool in your account called "Results about you". It checks whether your phone number, home address or email address appears in Search results, and lets you request removal of those results.

1. Go to myactivity.google.com/results-about-you, or in the Google app, tap your profile picture, then "Results about you".
2. Select "Get started" and enter your name and the contact details to monitor. You can add a nickname, a maiden name and several numbers, addresses or emails.
3. At the notifications step, choose email or Google app notifications. Google says it will notify you when new results matching your personal info are found.

Good to know. Google says some features are rolling out to users over 18 in certain markets. Open the link to see whether it's offered on your account. In February 2026, Google announced that it was adding government ID numbers (driver's license, passport, Social Security number), starting in the US. The tool monitors your contact details, not your photos. Removing a result from Google doesn't delete the page from the site that hosts it. More: remove a Google result.

4. Your photos and your face: a weekly reverse image search

No free alert searches for your photos for you. What works is manual and regular.

1. Pick 3 to 5 reference photos: your current profile picture, the one on your website, one that's been widely shared. Keep them in a folder.
2. Google Lens: on google.com, click the "Search by image" icon, then upload a file. In Chrome, right-click an image and choose "Search with Google Lens".
3. Bing: on the Images tab, click the camera icon, then upload the photo or paste its URL. Bing lists sites using the same picture and similar images.
4. Note what's new compared with last week.

Be realistic: reverse image search mostly finds your photos reused as they are or lightly edited. It won't reliably find a fake profile, let alone a deepfake. Our guide someone is using my photos covers more tools and your options.

5. Alerts offered by the platforms

A few platforms have their own tools. They are limited and only open to some people.

• YouTube likeness detection: for channel owners or managers aged 18 and over, after identity verification (government ID and a short selfie video), YouTube Studio lists YouTube videos where your face appears to be altered or AI-generated. YouTube calls it experimental, says it isn't available in some countries, and it only covers YouTube. You then decide whether to request removal.
• Meta Verified: Meta's paid subscription advertises impersonation protection, including monitoring for accounts that pretend to be you. Meta doesn't describe any alert sent to subscribers.
• StopNCII is not an alert. It helps stop an intimate image from being shared on partner platforms. It doesn't notify you of anything.

6. The 10-minute weekly routine

Pick a fixed day and set a reminder.

Once a month, add a Google search for your name on the Images tab. After an incident, go to twice a week for a month: fake accounts sometimes come back under a new name.

7. When an alert goes off: what to do

1. Don't click suspicious links sent to you, and don't contact the person behind it.
2. Save evidence before you report: full URL, dated screenshots, exact handle. Our checklist: save evidence before reporting.
3. Report on the right grounds, depending on what you found:

Platform rules ban impersonation and non-consensual synthetic images, so a well-made report often works without going to court. The legal side depends on where you live. In most countries, using a false identity to get money is fraud. This page is general information, not legal advice.