Learn how to navigate the Peoplelooker opt-out process with our comprehensive guide.
Data broker sites have made it easier for individuals to find out personal and even confidential information about a particular person. People can search and get information about a former colleague, an old roommate, a lost family member, a former boyfriend/girlfriend, a husband/wife, or any person of interest. Sites like peoplelooker.com and other people search engines provide you with the ability to conduct a people search and get detailed background checks. The site claims that it runs over 1 million background reports.
What Type of Detailed Background Information Do People Search Sites Provide?
On the peoplelooker website, for example, you can get reports that include:
- People searches
- Reverse phone lookups and searches
- Reverse email searches
- Reverse property searches
- Unclaimed money searches
The reports may include the following information about the subject of your search: name and any known aliases, current phone numbers, addresses, known relatives, criminal records, sex offender information, traffic violations, social media profiles, and public photos.
Peoplelooker allows anyone to conduct a free scan before offering paid plans for access to more detailed background information.
Peoplelooker: It’s Easy to Use
Peoplelooker is relatively simple to use. Just enter your subject’s name and surname (along with a state, if desired) in the search bar and click. The search engine will sift through billions of records and compile a report containing all relevant information it finds. A preliminary search takes less than two minutes, and your report is ready for download in less than five minutes.
You can even do a reverse address lookup to see who is at the current residence. Some may use this feature to find a lost relative or to, as the peoplelooker website says, to “zero in home values.” You can put in your address and the addresses of other similar homes in the neighborhood to get home values and previous sales reports.
How Do Data Brokers Get the Personal Information They Offer?
Data broker sites like peoplelooker obtain their information from federal, state, county, and municipal public records. They also get the information from social media networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
According to the site’s FAQ, peoplelooker obtains its data from billions of records obtained from various sources, but no information is provided on how the company updates its database to ensure the information provided is accurate and up to date. All searches, according to the site, will be monitored. The site also claims users will receive periodic updates if the information in your report changes or something new is discovered.
Are These Data Broker Sites Legit?
Peoplelooker and other data broker sites claim they are legitimate. The terms of the peoplelooker site say the information searched and used must be in compliance with the Federal Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). This means you can’t use peoplelooker.com or other sites from data brokers for the following reasons:
- Employment screening
- Tenant screening
- Hiring household workers
- Educational qualifications
- Assessing creditworthiness
- Business transactions initiated by an individual customer
How to Opt Out of Peoplelooker
Not everyone wants their information searched and found on these data broker sites for various reasons, including the possibility of identity theft. The greater accessibility to private data related to your property and other more detailed background information, the easier it is for bad actors to hack your social media accounts or even steal your identity.
So, What Is the Peoplelooker Opt-Out Process?
You can choose to do a manual opt-out request to remove personal data from the peoplelooker site using the BeenVerified opt-out process.
Go to the footer of the site and click on “Do Not Sell My Information.”
The next step in the opt-out process is to input your name and state and search for your information.
Once you get the search results, scroll through and click on the record. Provide your email to submit your opt-out request.
You’ll get a verification email. Check your email and click the “Verify Opt Out” link.
After you get the verification email and click the “Verify Opt Out” link, your information should be removed within 24 hours of verification of the opt-out requests.
California residents can choose to submit a California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Data Deletion Request manually. This is a stronger opt-out option that purges your data rather than just removing it from public display.
However, just because you went through the peoplelooker opt-out process doesn’t mean your information is not available on many other people search engines and data broker sites. Opting out of peoplelooker doesn’t automatically opt you out of other data brokers sites. In addition, peoplelooker has many different data partners which, in some cases, can provide new information or a record about an individual who went through the opt-out process.
As a side note, if you happen to have a peoplelooker membership because you used the service yourself, you can cancel your account at any time.
What About Opting Out of Other Data Broker Sites?
You can manually opt out of each data broker site, but there are more than 100 other people search sites; therefore, going through the opt-out request for each site would take you a great deal of time and a lot of resources you most likely don’t have. Some of the major data brokers include instantcheckmate.com, intelius.com, mylife.com, peoplefinders.com, truthfinder.com, and many, many others.
In addition, by the time you’re done with each of the opt-out processes involved for each data broker website, your data will likely begin to appear again.
There are services available to automatically opt you out of not only peoplelooker, but also other data brokers and people search sites. There is, however, a fee to do this.
It’s important to remain vigilant when it comes to the type of information people can find out about you. If you want to stay under the radar, it’s important to do a search on yourself to see what information is available about you online. You can also use an online reputation management (ORM) firm to help you not only perform a digital audit on yourself and your company but also to help remove personal information on the sites of major data brokers.
To learn more about online privacy and how to protect your personal information from leaks on the web, contact EraseComplaints today at 888-600-7409 .