As careful as you may be, your information is on the internet. Whenever you sign up for a new account or service, there’s a chance your data will be leaked.
“Just google it.” We all say it but don’t want to be part of it. Anybody can find more information about you via the world’s most popular search engine. Tap or click here for instructions on removing your address and phone number from Google search results.
If you Google your name, you’ll find that the top results come from people search sites. These services exist solely to help anyone learn more about anyone else. We’re here to help you get rid of that info. Check out this week’s Opt-Out Tuesday to remove yourself from DOBSearch.
Here’s the backstory
Before we get to the steps, here’s a quick reminder: 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.
Don’t pay to remove your information from any site, either. This process must be provided for free.
Finally, be very 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. If a button or link redirects you to another site, your best bet is to close out and start again.
Do you have older relatives who may not know about these 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.
DOBSearch provides more than just your date of birth
On its website, DOBSearch boasts about the information you can find on others: phone number, email address, age, nicknames, previous addresses, current residence, neighbors, relatives, social media profiles, education and job title. This is collected from numerous publically available sources, and it’s all legal.
We have a running list for opting out of people search sites. Tap or click here to check out our regularly updated instructions.
In many cases, you have to search for yourself on these sites and request each entry be removed one by one. It’s a pain, but it’s the only way under those circumstances. It seems that DOBSearch used to have an opt-out process like this, but it’s gone.
If you search for yourself on DOBSearch, you’ll be redirected to a search in BeenVerified, another people finder site.
While some of these sites run their own databases, others lead to other websites and databases, so it can be very tricky to locate where the information is coming from. DOBSearch is a perfect example of this. At the moment, it exists only to push people to another site.
So let’s start with removing yourself from BeenVerified:
- Go to https://www.beenverified.com/app/optout/search.
- Enter your first and last name and select your state from the drop-down menu. Then hit the Search button.
- Select the correct match from the search results and click Proceed to Opt-Out.
- Fill in your email address and click Send Verification Email.
- Open the email and click the link inside. This will bring you to a confirmation page.
- Expect it to take several days to weeks before your information vanishes.
- Tap or click here for our detailed report on BeenVerified, including screenshots.
While you’re at it, it can’t hurt to fill out the form at dobsearch.com/contact and ask for your information to be removed.
You may also like: Opt-out Tuesday: How to remove yourself from PeopleByName