People search sites advertise as services for finding long-lost friends and family. But anyone can use these sites to find information on strangers.
People search sites scrape personal information, such as your full name, address, phone number, family history, employment information and more. Crooks, hackers and scammers can access this information as easily as anyone else. Tap or click here for instructions for removing your information from these dangerous sites.
For this entry in our weekly Opt-Out Tuesday series, we’ll show you how to remove yourself from StateRecords.
Avoid people search sites at all costs, especially if it costs you
Don’t ever pay for any people search service. Many of these sites are scammy in nature. You may think you’re paying for one report and find that you’ve been roped into recurring charges.
And never pay to remove your information from any site. This process must be provided for free.
When trying to remove your data from people search sites, be careful which links you click. They’re often ads that lead you to another site that requests payment. We’ll provide accurate links to remove yourself from these sites with each Opt-out Tuesday report.
Do you have older relatives who may not know about people search sites? While you’re opting out yourself, why not do the same for them? Just type in their information as you would your own and follow our steps to completion.
It seems illegal, but it isn’t
People search sites scrape personal information from publicly available sources such as court records, social media, police records, property records and forums. They also purchase information from data brokers.
According to its website, StateRecords can be used to access the following information: driving violations, bankruptcies, tax and property leans, death records, birth records, professional licenses, marriages and divorces, inmate records and much more.
Fortunately, you can opt out of this invasive service. We’ll show you how.
Opt out of StateRecords
People search sites can make it difficult to opt-out. No surprise there, right? They’re not exactly known for their ethics.
We’ve researched for you, and we’ll ensure you go to the right place to get your information off this site. Let’s get started:
- Go to staterecords.org/optout.
- Enter your name, state and city.
- Mark the checkbox for all entries that match your information, then select Remove Data.
- Enter your email address on the next screen and complete the Captcha.
- Select Submit when you’re done.
- Check your email for a message from [email protected].
- Select Click Here to confirm your removal request.
- You’ll be taken to a confirmation page. And with that, you’re done.
Wait a few days, search the site for your records, and repeat the process if necessary. If you have any issues, contact StateRecords at 855-938-5042.
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