If you use social media, LinkedIn or any service where you post photos, your face is on the web. You probably know that people can do a reverse image search on your photos to find out where they came from, but it’s getting worse. One site lets anyone search an image for more pictures of that person. Tap or click here to remove your data from the site. Publically available information is also easy to find online, including your name, address, birthday, marital status, education level and financial records, employment information and more. People search sites gather that information and sell it to anyone who wants it. For this week’s Opt-Out Tuesday, we’ll show you how to remove yourself from PeopleFinder.
Avoid people search sites at all costs, especially if it costs you
Before we get to the steps, a 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.
Similar names, same goals
We covered PeopleFinders in a previous edition Opt-Out Tuesday, which you can check out here. This week we are looking at PeopleFinder.com — the same name, minus the “S” at the end. The spelling doesn’t matter. These people search sites do the same thing. They scrape personal information from local, state and federal public records, along with court records, social media, forums and other sources. They can also purchase information from data brokers. The sites sell this information to anyone who wants to pay. There is no price of entry beyond that payment. A jealous ex can access the information as easily as a hacker. We regularly update our roundup of people search sites with instructions to remove them. Tap and click here to check out the list so far.
How to remove your information from PeopleFinder
“With over a billion public records in our database, PeopleFinder will give you the freedom to search for anyone and everyone.” That statement is right there on the homepage. Yikes. PeopleFinder is powered by Intelius, a public records company that runs a people search site and owns others, such as US Search. People search sites typically offer you a way to opt out and remove your data, though it’s not always a simple process. PeopleFinder links you to an opt-out page via Intelius. Here’s how to do it:
Go to intelius.com/opt-out/submit.
Enter your first and last name, state of residence and email and select Continue.Find your name on the next page and select Remove This Record.You’ll be sent to a page informing you that an email confirmation was sent out.Open the message in your inbox and scan the information before hitting the Confirm Email button.You’ll be taken to a final confirmation page.
Your information will be removed from the Intelius database within seven days. Check back after a week and if it’s still there, repeat the process.If you need help, contact customer support at 888-245-1655 or send a message to support@mailer.intelius.com.
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