Like it or not, your personal information is online for anyone to find. This can include your full name, address, phone number, police record, employment information and more. People search sites scrape this information from public records, court records, social media and other sources.
Many sites exist solely to offer such services. You only need a small piece of information, such as a person’s phone number, and from there, you can locate more information on them. Tap or click here for our running list of people search sites with instructions for removal.
For this entry in our weekly Opt-Out Tuesday series on removing yourself from people search sites, we’ll show you how to remove yourself from US Search.
Avoid people search sites at all costs, especially if it costs you
Most of these sites are scammy in nature. You may think you’re paying for one report and have been roped into recurring charges. Don’t pay to remove your information from any site. This process must be provided for free, as seen in the steps below.
Do you have older relatives who may not know about these sites? While 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.
PSA: There’s an easier way
Below, I’ll give you the steps to remove yourself from US Search, but that’s just one of hundreds of such sites. If you want to remove them all in one go, check out Incogni.
Incogni does all that hard work for you. It took me three minutes to complete the sign-up process. Then, they get to work removing you from 180+ sites. After that initial setup, you don’t have to lift a finger. So great.
I have a special deal just for you. Right now, get 60% off an annual subscription using code KIM60.
Pioneering data broker
One of the earliest people search sites is US Search, launched in 1993. The site boasts that you can use it to access billions of records. Like many such sites, this one claims to help you “find long-lost friends and family members.” You can bet those aren’t the only types of people using these sites.
Scammers and hackers can use these sites to find victims. The more information they have, the more damage they can do. The sites themselves can sell information to third parties, such as data brokers, that use the data for targeted advertising.
Get your data out of there
US Search is part of PeopleConnect, which has several people search sites under its umbrella, such as TruthFinder, InstantCheckmate, and Intelius. All these sites and more now use the same opt-out processes.
The original US Search opt-out page is now a broken link, so you’ll have to go through PeopleConnect:
- Go to suppression.peopleconnect.us/login.
- Enter your email address, read through the privacy policy and terms of service, click the I agree checkbox and hit Continue.
- Check your inbox for a confirmation email from [email protected]. Tap the Verify Email button in the message.
- Enter your birthdate, click the I have verified the birthdate button and tap Continue.
- A Matching Records page opens. Select the one that represents you and tap Continue.
- Tap Continue on the following Verification page.
- A Control page opens where you will choose what to do with your information between Displayed or Suppressed. Here’s what that means:
- Selecting and saving Suppressed will prevent the selected record from appearing on its people search sites. Displayed will allow it to appear in search results, reports, etc. You’ll want to select Suppressed.
If you can’t find your information, select the Identity tab at the top to return to the previous page.
Hit the Edit Identity button and enter more information, such as another email address you use. Verifying more of your information may help to locate your matching profile on the site.
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 to delete your data:
- Go to suppression.peopleconnect.us/privacy-center and scroll down to the Right to Delete section.
- Enter your email address (if you followed the suppression steps above, your information may already be in the system and you won’t have to enter your email address again).
- Hit the Delete My User Data button. You’ll receive a message saying you must complete the process via a link in your email.
- Check your inbox for a message from [email protected]. Tap the link at the bottom to permanently delete your account data.
- You’ll be taken to a confirmation page. Keep an eye out for another email message confirming your deletion.
NOTE: If you’ve already gone through the PeopleConnect deletion process for Intelius or another site, you’ll get an email stating that no record is associated with your email.
If you have trouble completing these steps or need more information, write to [email protected].