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Opt-Out Tuesday: Remove yourself from creepy people search sites

Albert Khoury
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Your personal info is all over the internet. Here are three ways to take back your privacy.

People search sites collect and sell personal information, including your name, address, birthday, marital status, family members, social media profiles, education, property records, finances, phone number, police record and employment information. They scrape this information from local, state and federal public records, court records, social media, forums and data brokers.

Our Opt-Out Tuesday series was created to help you remove yourself, step by step, from people search sites. These sites advertise their services as helping you find friends or relatives, but anyone can use them to find out more about you (a jealous ex, a scammer, etc.). Here’s how to put a stop to it.

Avoid people search sites at all costs, especially if it costs you

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.

Don’t pay to remove your information from any site. This process must be provided for free.

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.

Many sites have a process to remove your records, though it’s not always straightforward:

Give it about a week between attempts. If your information is still there, contact the company directly. We’ve included everything you need to know for each site below.

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.

RELATED: Data-hungry apps: These are the worst for your privacy

Remove yourself from Social Catfish

Social Catfish enables anyone to find information on you through a search of over 200 billion records. A scammer, hacker or jealous ex can use this site to discover your residential and business phone numbers and addresses.

Here’s how to opt out of Social Catfish

Allow a week or so for your information to be removed from the site.

Go to the contact page at socialcatfish.com/contact and fill in the form if you have any additional questions or concerns.

For more in-depth instructions on Social Catfish, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from RocketReach

RocketReach sells professional and business information online. The site boasts verified data for 700 million professionals across 35 million companies.

Here’s how to opt out of RocketReach:

It may take several weeks for the changes to take effect.

Send a message to support@rocketreach.co if you need more help.

For more in-depth instructions on RocketReach, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from Radaris

Radaris boasts hundreds of millions of public records. Everything from phone numbers to property records to background checks on a person can be gathered into one report for anyone to read.

Here’s how to opt out of Radaris:

Your information should be removed within 48 hours.

For more help, drop Radaris a message at customer-service@radaris.com.

For more in-depth instructions on Radaris, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from USA People Search

USA People Search lets you find everything about a person, past and present. Aside from the basic information all people search sites offer, you can find aliases and unlisted numbers.

The site’s database contains billions of public records from thousands of sources going back over 40 years.

Here’s how to opt out of USA People Search:

Allow 72 hours for your changes to take effect.

If you need assistance, fill out the contact form at usa-people-search.com/contact.

For more in-depth instructions on USA People Search, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from Apollo.io

Apollo.io allows anyone to search and engage with over 250 million contacts at over 60 million companies through its platform.

Here’s how to opt out of Apollo.io:

Keep an eye out for another email saying your information will be removed in 24 hours.

Contact privacy@apollo.io if you need help or more information. You can request that all your information be deleted from the site.

For more in-depth instructions on Apollo.io, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from TruePeopleSearch

TruePeopleSearch offers free access to billions of records, including full names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, known associates and more.

Here’s how to opt out of TruePeopleSearch:

You’ll be taken to a final confirmation page informing you that your record will be removed from the site within 72 hours.

Fill out the contact form at truepeoplesearch.com/contact if you need more help.

For more in-depth instructions on TruePeopleSearch, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from FamilyTreeNow

Ever try one of those genealogy sites? It may seem like a fun idea to trace your ancestry, but the privacy risk is extremely high, especially when you submit a sample for DNA.

FamilyTreeNow boasts billions of family records, including census records from 1790-1940, birth records, death records, marriage and divorce records and military records. Don’t be tempted!

Here’s how to opt out of FamilyTreeNow:

Give it at least 72 hours for your information to be removed.

Fill out the contact form at familytreenow.com/contact if you need more help.

For more in-depth instructions on FamilyTreeNow, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from InfoTracer

InfoTracer boasts 5 billion records containing names, addresses, phone numbers, family histories and employment information. You can also get information on assets, birth certificates, political contributions and unclaimed money.

Here’s how to opt out of InfoTracer:

You’ll be taken to a final confirmation screen. Give it about a week for your information to be removed.

Fill out the contact form at infotracer.com/help or call 800-791-1427 if you need more help.

For more in-depth instructions on InfoTracer, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from FastPeopleSearch

FastPeopleSearch boasts 16.5 billion available records being searched 100 million times per month. Yikes!

Here’s how to opt out of FastPeopleSearch:

Allow 72 hours for your changes to take effect.

If you need assistance, fill out the contact form at fastpeoplesearch.com/contact.

For more in-depth instructions on FastPeopleSearch, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from Whitepages

Whitepages.com has been around since 1997. The people search site boasts cell phone numbers for over 275 million people nationwide.

Here’s how to opt out of Whitepages:

It may take up to 24 hours for your profile to be removed from Whitepages.

If you need help, email customer service at support@whitepages.com.

For more in-depth instructions on Whitepages, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from AddressSearch

AddressSearch prides itself on providing free access to more than 95 million email addresses and 140 million mailing addresses.

Here’s how to get your information off of AddressSearch:

Wait 24 to 48 hours for your information to be removed.

Go to addresssearch.com/contact.php for any questions or concerns.

For more in-depth instructions on AddressSearch, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from Spokeo

Spokeo boasts a database of 12 billion records. Nearly 20 million people visit Spokeo.com each month.

Follow our step-by-step instructions to opt out of Spokeo:

Give the site at least a week to process your removal request.

If you need customer support, call Spokeo at 888-558-9004. Check out the contact page for more ways to get in touch.

For more in-depth instructions on Spokeo, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from MyLife

MyLife launched in 2008 due to a merger between two other search sites: Reunion.com and Wink.com. The site boasts a Reputation Score feature, which assigns a number based on how you’re presented online to anyone who cares to look.

Here’s how to remove yourself entirely from the site.

A message appears that states your request will be processed within 15 business days.

If you need customer support, call 888-704-1900 or email membersupport@mylife.com.

For more in-depth instructions on MyLife, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from Search Systems

Search Systems has been around since 1996. It has its own opt-out process, but you may be redirected to another people search site if you want to remove your information. In this case it’s BeenVerified, a site associated with others like it.

We’ve included instructions for both opt-out processes below:

Wait a couple of weeks for your information to clear.

If you need to contact Search Systems, go to publicrecords.searchsystems.net/contact.php.

For more in-depth instructions on Search Systems, including screenshots, tap or click here.

If you’re redirected to BeenVerified, here’s how to opt-out from there:

Expect it to take several days to weeks before your information vanishes.

For customer support, write to support@beenverified.com.

For more in-depth instructions on BeenVerified, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from StateRecords

Removing your information from StateRecords is an easy process:

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.

For more in-depth instructions on StateRecords, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from PeopleByName

PeopleByName doesn’t want you to opt out. The site makes it difficult to find the right page to get your information out. Our content queen, Allie, had to navigate through annoying links and redirects, but she found what she was looking for!

Here’s how to erase your information from PeopleByName:

In around a day, the email you provided should get an update.

For more in-depth instructions on PeopleByName, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from PeekYou

As with any people search site, PeekYou advertises its services as a convenient way to find your friends and relatives. Of course, anyone can find information on anyone else using people search sites.

There are a couple of ways to remove your information from PeekYou:

Alternatively, you can go to PeekYou homepage and scroll down to the bottom of the page and select Do Not Sell My Personal Information. From here you can enter your personal information and URLs linking to any matching profiles on the site. Use the above steps to complete your opt-out request.

If you need to contact PeekYou, send an email to info@peekyou.com.

For more in-depth instructions on PeekYou, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from Private Eye

Here’s how to remove yourself from Private Eye’s database, which is owned by PeopleFinders:

If you need additional assistance, contact customer support here.

For more in-depth instructions on Private Eye, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from SpyFly

With a name like “SpyFly” you know it’s bad. There are two ways to remove your information from SpyFly. The help page says to email support@spyfly.com with your first and last name as shown on the website, along with your age, your current address and your previous addresses. The process should take 24 hours.

The other method is to opt-out through the website:

Wait a few days and search the site again for your records. If you have any issues, contact SpyFly customer support here.

For more in-depth instructions on SpyFly, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from PeopleFinders

PeopleFinders has been around for 20 years. You’ll definitely want to remove your information from this one. Here’s how:

For customer support, call 800-718-8997.

For more in-depth instructions on PeopleFinders, including screenshots, tap or click here.

The PeopleConnect connection

While the above people search sites each have their own opt-out processes, the following sites are part of the “PeopleConnect family.” This means they follow the same steps to remove your information. Here’s what you need to know:

The wording in the Privacy Center is not very clear. We wrote to PeopleConnect about this and have yet to receive a response. To cover all our bases, we’ll show you how to suppress your data and delete it.

Remove yourself from Intelius

Intelius is one of the more prominent data brokers on the web and is part of PeopleConnect.

The old opt-out link for Intelius is broken, so you’ll need to use the PeopleConnect suppression tool. Let’s start there:

NOTE: PeopleConnect pushes the suppression tool as the best way to stop people from finding you on its sites, but there is also an option to delete. Before you do so, know that PeopleConnect states that deleting your data will also delete your suppressions.

With that in mind, here’s how delete your data:

NOTE: If you’ve already gone through the PeopleConnect deletion process for Intelius or another site, you’ll get an email stating that there is no record associated with your email.

If you have any trouble completing these steps or need more information, write to privacy@peopleconnect.us or call 888-245-1655.

For more in-depth instructions on Intelius, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from US Search

US Search is one of the earliest people search sites, having been around since 1993. It’s part of the PeopleConnect family, which means you have to follow the same steps as a bunch of the sites above.

The original US Search opt-out page is now a broken link, so you’ll have to go through PeopleConnect:

NOTE: PeopleConnect pushes the suppression tool as the best way to stop people from finding you on its sites, but there is also an option to delete. Before you do so, know that PeopleConnect states that deleting your data will also delete your suppressions.

With that in mind, here’s how delete your data:

NOTE: If you’ve already gone through the PeopleConnect deletion process for US Search or another site, you’ll get an email stating that there is no record associated with your email, since you already deleted it.

If you have any trouble completing these steps or need more information, write to privacy@peopleconnect.us or call 888-245-1655.

For more in-depth instructions on US Search, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from Truthfinder

The truth is out there, and that’s not a good thing. Truthfinder provides access to hundreds of millions of records.

The original opt-out link for Truthfinder now directs you to PeopleConnect’s suppression tool:

NOTE: PeopleConnect pushes the suppression tool as the best way to stop people from finding you on its sites, but there is also an option to delete. Before you do so, know that PeopleConnect states that deleting your data will also delete your suppressions.

With that in mind, here’s how delete your data:

NOTE: If you’ve already gone through the PeopleConnect deletion process for Truthfinder or another site, you’ll get an email stating that there is no record associated with your email (since you already deleted it).

If you have any trouble completing these steps or need more information, write to privacy@peopleconnect.us or call 888-245-1655.

For more in-depth instructions on TruthFinder, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from PeopleLookup

Like many people search sites, PeopleLookup is linked with other similar services, which in this case was US Search.

The original US Search opt-out page is now a broken link, so you’ll have to go through PeopleConnect:

NOTE: PeopleConnect pushes the suppression tool as the best way to stop people from finding you on its sites, but there is also an option to delete. Before you do so, know that PeopleConnect states that deleting your data will also delete your suppressions.

With that in mind, here’s how delete your data:

NOTE: If you’ve already gone through the PeopleConnect deletion process for PeopleLookup or another site, you’ll get an email stating that there is no record associated with your email.

If you have any trouble completing these steps or need more information, write to privacy@peopleconnect.us or call 888-245-1655.

For more in-depth instructions on PeopleLookup, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from Instant Checkmate

Instant Checkmate boasts more than 1.4 billion searches on its website. Checkmate, indeed.

The old opt-out link for Instant Checkmate now leads you to the PeopleConnect suppression tool. Let’s start with that:

NOTE: PeopleConnect pushes the suppression tool as the best way to stop people from finding you on its sites, but there is also an option to delete. Before you do so, know that PeopleConnect states that deleting your data will also delete your suppressions.

With that in mind, here’s how delete your data:

NOTE: If you’ve already gone through the PeopleConnect deletion process for Instant Checkmate or another site, you’ll get an email stating that there is no record associated with your email.

If you have any trouble completing these steps or need more information, write to privacy@peopleconnect.us or call 888-245-1655.

For more in-depth instructions on Instant Checkmate, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from PeopleFinder

We covered PeopleFinders in Opt-Out Tuesday, but this is PeopleFinder — the same name, minus the “S” at the end. The spelling doesn’t matter, as both sites exist to perform the same invasive function.

PeopleFinder had an opt-out page from Intelius, which no longer works. Now you must go through PeopleConnect.

NOTE: PeopleConnect pushes the suppression tool as the best way to stop people from finding you on its sites, but there is also an option to delete. Before you do so, know that PeopleConnect states that deleting your data will also delete your suppressions.

With that in mind, here’s how delete your data:

NOTE: If you’ve already gone through the PeopleConnect deletion process for PeopleFinder or another site, you’ll get a message stating that there is no record associated with your email.

If you have any trouble completing these steps or need more information, write to privacy@peopleconnect.us or call 888-245-1655.

For more in-depth instructions on PeopleFinder, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from ZabaSearch

ZabaSearch is powered by Intelius and used to link you to an opt-out page via that site, but it no longer works.

They’re both part of PeopleConnect, which has its own opt-out steps to follow:

NOTE: PeopleConnect pushes the suppression tool as the best way to stop people from finding you on its sites, but there is also an option to delete. Before you do so, know that PeopleConnect states that deleting your data will also delete your suppressions.

With that in mind, here’s how delete your data:

NOTE: If you’ve already gone through the PeopleConnect deletion process for ZabaSearch or another site, you’ll get an email stating that there is no record associated with your email.

If you have any trouble completing these steps or need more information, write to privacy@peopleconnect.us or call 888-245-1655.

For more in-depth instructions on ZabaSearch, including screenshots, tap or click here.

RELATED: Protect your privacy, your cell phone number and email address

The BeenVerified network

Many people search sites are owned by or affiliated with similar sites. The following sites all use the same opt-out process from BeenVerified.

Remove yourself from BeenVerified

BeenVerified lets users search for property records as well as personal information. Here’s how to remove your data:

Expect it to take several days to weeks before your information vanishes.

Now you can go on to remove your property data:

Expect it to take several days to weeks before your information vanishes.

For customer support, write to support@beenverified.com.

For more in-depth instructions on BeenVerified, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from FreePhoneTracer

FreePhoneTracer is part of the BeenVerified network. It uses the same simple opt-out process:

Expect it to take several days to weeks before your information vanishes.

For customer support, write to support@beenverified.com.

For more in-depth instructions on FreePhoneTracer, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from DOBSearch

While many people search sites have their own databases, others exist just to lead you elsewhere. DOBSearch is a perfect example of this. At the moment, it exists only to push people to another site we’ve covered in Opt-Out Tuesday — BeenVerified.

Follow the same opt-out process used for BeenVerified to remove your information from DOBSearch:

Expect it to take several days to weeks before your information vanishes.

You can also fill out the form at dobsearch.com/contact and ask for your information to be removed.

For more in-depth instructions on DOBSearch, including screenshots, tap or click here.

Remove yourself from PeopleSmart

PeopleSmart lets you search for professional information for sales, leads and customer acquisition. 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.

Here’s how to opt out of PeopleSmart:

It may take a few weeks for your information to be deleted from the site.

For customer support, write to support@beenverified.com or support@peoplesmart.com.

For more in-depth instructions on PeopleSmart, including screenshots, tap or click here.

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