Have I Been Pwned does exactly what it says it will do.
As HIBP say:
A "breach" is an incident where data has been unintentionally exposed to the public.
You can probably tell when your email address has been used by suss people - all of a sudden you get all sorts of emails supposedly from reputable places, or you get emails to everyone with your name, or any number of variations.
All you have to do is put in your email address and HIBP will tell you if your email address has been revealed. It doesn't prove anything. It just lets youknow it happened.
For instance, I received this notice from HIBP
Combolists Posted to Telegram: In May 2024, 2B rows of data with 361M unique email addresses were collated from malicious Telegram channels. The data contained 122GB across 1.7k files with email addresses, usernames, passwords and in many cases, the website they were entered into. The data appears to have been sourced from a combination of existing combolists and info stealer malware.
Compromised data: Email addresses, Passwords, Usernames
And of course I had noted an increase of scam emails. Just be aware.
Have I Been Pwned is great
June 4, 2024
Unprompted review