What an impossible-travel alert means

Impossible travel means your account signed in from Edmonton at 9:00 and from another country at 9:20. Identity Monitor raises an alert the moment it sees this.

What it usually is

• A thief with your password. They signed in from wherever they are.
• A VPN or a phone network. A VPN (a tunnel that hides your location) can make you look far away.
• A trip. You landed somewhere and opened your mail.

What we do

Every alert goes to a person at WILDCARD first. We look at the sign-in, the device and what happened next. We aim to respond within 20 minutes, day or night. If it looks wrong, the account is signed out everywhere, sign-in is blocked, and the password is reset. Then we call you.

What you may notice

• You get signed out and asked to sign in again, or a password reset you did not ask for.
• A call or email from us asking “was this you?” Answer honestly. “Yes, that was me” closes it in a minute.

Related

• When an account looks compromised
• Identity Monitor, the card that raises this alert