When was the last time you searched for yourself online? There’s likely plenty of accurate information about you floating around the web that you didn’t know about, such as your full name, address, phone number, family history, employment information and more.
This information can be accessed by anyone on people search sites, including scammers, hackers and individuals you don’t want to hear from. Tap or click here for instructions on removing your information from these dangerous sites.
If you care about your privacy, deleting yourself from these sites is a great place to start. For this week’s Opt-Out Tuesday, we’ll show you how to remove yourself from PeopleSmart.
Here’s the backstory
Don’t ever pay for any people search service. Most 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.
But be careful which links you click when opting out of people search sites. Links they provide are 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 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.
Professional data mining
PeopleSmart lets you search for professional information for sales, leads and customer acquisition. You can search by name, location, company, title and industry. The site has access to hundreds of millions of records.
PeopleSmart also has the option to search for more personal data rather than professional. Selecting this links you to BeenVerified, a partner brand. Incidentally, BeenVerified also manages the opt-out process for PeopleSmart.
RELATED: Protect your privacy, your cell phone number and email address
How to opt out of PeopleSmart
- Go to peoplesmart.com and scroll down to the bottom of the page.
- Hit the link labeled Do Not Sell My Personal Information.
- You’ll be redirected to BeenVerified. Click the Do Not Sell My Info button.
- Enter your name and select your state from the dropdown menu, then hit Search.
- 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.
- It may take a few weeks for your information to be deleted from the site.
For customer support, write to [email protected] or [email protected].
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