The best and worst of people search websites

DeleteMePrivacy

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Think of us as professional deleters.  As DeleteMe experts, we’re constantly removing people’s information from people search websites like Spokeo.com, 123People.com, and WhitePages.com.  In fact, our standard removal service covers 20+ different databases, all of which have completely different procedures for deleting listings.  Needless to say, we have a lot of experience with these sites and their customer service departments.

What are people search websites?

Not familiar with people search websites?  These companies, also called “data brokers” or “info brokers,” buy and sell your personal information, effectively making a business out of privacy violation.  They collect your information through everything from old accounts you’ve made (of course, you always read the full terms of service before clicking “I accept…” right?) to public court documents, real estate holdings, and online surveys you completed.

Many of them offer free search results but charge for more detailed reports.  Even so, the costs are usually very low.  For example, $2.95/month on Spokeo.com gets you a person’s social networking site memberships and profiles, phone numbers, email addresses, home address, full name, family history, hobbies, and estimated net worth.  If someone’s set on finding out everything about you, $2.95 won’t stop him.

These sites are not illegal.  In fact, they’re not even required by law to let you remove your information from them.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), however, has suggested that not giving users an opt-out mechanism may violate their laws against unfair and deceptive trade practices, and companies that don’t follow their own privacy policies have found themselves in violation of the same act.  For example, in 2010, the people search website USSearch.com settled with the FTC after their “PrivacyLock” service did not block customers’ records as the company claimed.

Ranking people search websites: How we did it

Given the recent buzz over these sites, many people’s worries about their privacy, and a lot of misunderstanding on the subject, DeleteMe is publishing a list of best and worst people search websites.  We’re also ranking the 12 databases from which DeleteMe removes customers.

Rankings are based on our observations and firsthand experiences with these sites.  To be perfectly honest, we’re not fans of any people search websites.  Even though the information they get is publicly available, we still don’t like that they’re buying and selling it and consolidating all of it in one highly visible place.  It’s a stalker’s dream.  We hope that future legislation makes these sites illegal, but until then, it’s up to us to be proactive about our privacy and protect our info.  Please submit a complaint to the FTC to make sure your voice is heard.

We ranked sites on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 10 (excellent) in three areas:

1.     Ease of opting out

How simple is it to remove your information from the site (compared to other people search sites)?  What steps does the site make you take to remove yourself?

2.     Quality of customer service

Are you able to speak to a human being if necessary, or does the site force you to wade through a huge help forum?  Does the site answer commonly asked questions?

3.     Respect for individual privacy

Does the site share your information with third parties, like advertisers?  How much of your information do they display?

The 3 worst people search websites to opt out from:

True People Search (Score: 3/30)

  • Ease of opting out:  1
  • Quality of customer service:  1
  • Respect for individual privacy:  1

On the surface, it doesn’t look too difficult to opt-out of True People Search. It looks like you just need to fill out a CAPTCHA, find your name, and click “remove”. Easy, right? Not really: True People Search often makes it very difficult to find your listing from the removal form, even if you’ve found it through Google.

Often, DeleteMe customers will find their name, address, phone number, and other personal information on True People Search after they Google their name. However, when individuals try to use the seemingly simple True People Search removal process, True People Search often claims that they can’t find their listing, making it impossible to remove. In these cases, the only option is to email their support team at support@truepeoplesearch.com.

Of course, the support representatives just parrot out the removal process, no matter how many times you tell them that the process isn’t working. Our Privacy Experts often have to go back-and-forth with True People Search’s support team several times before successfully removing the listing. Luckily, our Privacy Experts have built up a resilience to dealing with these situations, and don’t give up until the job is done.

Acxiom Corp. (Score: 4/30)

  • Ease of opting out:  1
  • Quality of customer service: 1
  • Respect for individual privacy: 2

You probably don’t recognize the name “Acxiom,” but they provide search data to Google, Yahoo, Lycos, and other big name searches.  Remove yourself from their databases, and you stop the flow of your information at its source.  It’s too bad, then, that Acxiom makes it so hard for you to remove yourself.

Acxiom’s “opt-out” page doesn’t actually opt you out of anything: it just signs you up to receive a mailing.

Out of all the information brokers, Acxiom has the absolute worst opt-out policy.  You can pour over their privacy policy all day, but you won’t their opt-out request form.  Why?  You have to send away for it. That’s right:  in 2011, the digital age of the internet, a giant online company makes you send away for a hard-copy request form, which you’re required to fill with an excessive amount of your personal information and mail back. Using actual paper and actual stamps.  What’s more, they’ll only send you one at a time.

Acxiom seems to have adopted the “rebate model” for opting out of their databases:  make it extremely complicated and dependent on snail mail, and hope that people are too frustrated or lazy to follow through on it.  Unfortunately for them, they underestimate our diligence.

MyLife.com (Score: 7/30)

  • Ease of opting out:  2
  • Quality of customer service:  4
  • Respect for individual privacy:  1

Formerly Reunion.com, MyLifeis your standard people search website with one major difference:  the only way you can remove your information is by calling them on the phone.  You have to call their customer service number, talk to one person, wait to be transferred to their removal department, and then give the second person far more personal information that you’re probably comfortable with, just to be removed.  The customer service reps I’ve talked to are friendly—they’re just doing their jobs—but the process is slow, invasive, and antiquated.  And forget about opting out anyone but yourself.

MyLife.com: Making stalking more efficient since 2002.information is by calling them on the phone.  You have to call their customer service number, talk to one person, wait to be transferred to their removal department, and then give the second person far more personal information that you’re probably comfortable with, just to be removed.  The customer service reps I’ve talked to are friendly—they’re just doing their jobs—but the process is slow, invasive, and antiquated.  And forget about opting out anyone but yourself.

Beware of the site’s vague assurances that you can remove your info if you sign up for a profile.  Not only do some people believe that the signup process actually provides them with your info in the first place, but choosing to delete your account won’t remove your listing:  it only deletes the account you just made. Your listing stays.

Their customer service reps continually ask if you have a membership with them and encourage you to get one.  We probably don’t have to tell you this, but if you value your privacy, don’t.  MyLife has gotten in trouble for shady business practices in the past, using members’ email addresses to send out advertisements for MyLife and failing to cancel paid subscriptions.

Bottom line:  calling MyLife at (888) 704-1900 is the only way to opt yourself out.

The 3 best people search websites to opt out of:

PeopleFinder.com (Score: 15/30)

  • Ease of opting out:  10
  • Quality of customer service:  3
  • Respect for individual privacy:  2

With an all-online opt-out procedure, PeopleFinder.com makes it fast and simple to remove yourself from their databases.  Just search for your name, select your entry from the results, and click the “remove listing” link that appears.  Follow the instructions to remove yourself, and the site claims to take your information down in 1 business day.

In our experience, PeopleFinder.com doesn’t have as many listings as the other search websites.  They say that they list “up to 80% of people currently residing in United States,” but we often don’t find customers listed.

WhitePages.com (Score: 11/30)

  • Ease of opting out:  7
  • Quality of customer service:  2
  • Respect for individual privacy:  2

Although its opt-out procedure is still annoying, WhitePages.com made our top 3 because its system is all online.  Opting out involves registering for WhitePages.com, which is certainly a hassle, but it’s nowhere near as time-consuming as the fax or mail-in procedures that many of the other people search websites use.

Spokeo.com (Score: 11/30)

  • Ease of opting out:  9
  • Quality of customer service:  1
  • Respect for individual privacy: 1

We know you’re shocked:  Spokeo has been the villain of the blogosphere lately.  When it comes to removing your information, however, it’s actually one of the easiest and quickest sites out there.  It’s so easy, in fact, that we’ve been offering free opt-outs at DeleteMe for anyone who wants one.

Odds are that a lot of the info Spokeo has about you isn’t accurate.

Don’t get us wrong:  Spokeo certainly has its problems.  For one, it limits the number of opt-outs you can do each day.  Try to do several—for example, your family members–and you’ll get an error message: “In order to prevent abuse, we must limit the frequency of privacy requests. Please try again tomorrow.”  Funny that Spokeo considers taking down your family’s listings “abuse,” but Spokeo posting them for the world to see is not.

Also, the site provides heaps of information on people, most of which is pretty inaccurate.  For example, only 5 out of 15 people polled said that their Spokeo listings were completely correct.  This is because Spokeo’s entirely automated “service” scours the web for information but can’t verify whether it’s actually true.

In the end, though, we have to give Spokeo some credit for its simple online removal process.  Search for yourself, copy the URL of your search results, and go to their privacy page to get started.

The Complete Ranking

Our current DeleteMe people search deletion services removes you from the largest of data broker sites.  Many smaller search sites rely on the big guys for their data, so deleting you from the big databases prevents them from feeding your information to sites across the web. By removing your information at the source, we ensure that it disappears for good.

Here’s how we stacked up the top 10 largest data broker sites, from best to worst:

  1. PeopleFinders.com (best)
  2. WhitePages.com
  3. Spokeo.com
  4. USSearch.com
  5. USA-People-Search.com
  6. PrivateEye.com/PeopleFinders.com*
  7. PrivateEye.com/PeopleFinders.com*
  8. MyLife.com
  9. Acxiom Corp.
  10. True People Search

* Same parent company

Full List of People Search Websites

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC) maintains a complete list of all people search websites online, providing these companies’ Terms of Service, Privacy Policies, and opt-out procedures (if they exist).  If you’re concerned about your online privacy rights, we encourage you to donate to PRC today.

80 Replies to “The best and worst of people search websites”

  1. FGRibreau says:

    If you want to remove your 123People Profile, there is a tool for that: 123People Remover:
    http://projets.geekfg.net/?/15-123people-remover-remove-your-123people-profile.htm

  2. Evelynn says:

    I agree that some people search engines are better than others. One of the better ones that I’ve found is http://www.radaris.com . For one, it compiles all the results from different search engines into one page of results, so that you only need to search once to get all the data in one place. Second, their customer service is easy to use. You can remove up to five names from the directory absolutely free and no questions asked. And then if you need more service, you can complete their simple online form and get quick feedback.

    • sarah says:

      Thanks for the tip, Evelynn: this is great. Last time we checked, Radaris didn’t offer any way to remove your information. I’m glad to see they’ve come around!

    • c says:

      The Radaris on-line removal option is easy because it’s completely bogus. It removes entries from the list with the check boxes, but when you go back and search for the same name, the information (age, parents name and ages, former addresses) is still there.

      • Dusty Rhodes says:

        Very true. You can ask to have stuff removed “up to five per day”, but they leave it up anyway.

        I am amazed these scam companies have been able to get away with this for years now. Where are the hackers to get into their databases and delete it all?

      • 1234 says:

        Do not use the remove tool and never send them additional personal information? Radaris uses the remove tool to verify that you are real. If you send them additional ID information, it will end up in their database and sold for profit.

        • Alex says:

          In my opinion background check can be really helpful and useful in a variety of situations. I personally needed to perform background search about a person I was going to hire and Radaris was of greate help.

  3. Pat says:

    I sed the website peoplesearch.com and was suckered in but the tiny type which of course was my error. I was to get a free trial with a 95 cent charge for my inquiry. The background page came up and I used it but I then cancelled the site because it wasn’t complete enough so They charged me $39.95 for the report which was, I thought, covered in the inquiry.BEWARE OF THIS SITE AND THEIR WELL HIDDEN CHARGES!!!!!

    • Sarah Downey says:

      Ugh. Sorry that happened to you. That sort of credit card scam is really common in the people search/background check industry. The whole thing is terrible.

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  5. Joe says:

    What a ripoff these sites are. I did a search for my best friend who lives 5 miles from me. They gave the wrong address, wrong age and wrong relatives. I paid for a year just for fun but now I am very disappointed and will try to get a cred on my card.

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  12. Not so fast says:

    Re: Radaris – they really aren’t so great. I found how to remove my info easily enough but in doing they AUTOMATICALLY signed me up for an account on their own website! And there is apparently no way to remove that account or if their is, it seems to involve sending them ID(I found that info on another site, haven’t been able to find it on Radaris yet), which IMO might even be worse than simply allowing an unused account on there.

    • Sarah Downey says:

      Yeah, they make you create an account for the purpose of opting-out your info. My advice: sign up with a fake name, fake info, and a fake email address that you’ve created for that purpose only. You’ll never need it again.

  13. Lvnv says:

    White pages are the worst to remove personal information,that include specific address and phone number.They provide many phony links ,that lead to nowhere .A specially opt-out links are fake.No chance of removing residential address,and that is how we get robbed .

    • Jennifer says:

      Exactly – My records have gotten mixed up with those of at least 2 other people with my (relatively common) nameon whitepages. It says I have 26 arrests and citations! I’ve never been arrested & have gotten 2 tickets. When I tried to edit the information, I was told I couldn’t, but I could have my listing removed IF I signed up for an account (ie gave them more information about me and verified my phone number, which they will then SELL). Even then, some of my info (former addresses, family members) is on the other people’s accounts, so people could still think they were me. Ugh. Just terrible! This company has a LOT of similar complaints about them on other sites.

  14. Spring Amellia Elaina Alison Bloom says:

    No offence but that doesnt make scence. Now, just tell me! PLEASE! TELL ME HOW TO SAVE MY SISTER! I need a free, FREE website that will give me all the info about her!

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  17. Ben Franklin says:

    As you can tell by my name, I don’t necessarily use my real name when I’m asked for it online on most any site. The only time I will use it, is if it’s a govt. agency, like the Fed. Income Tax Bureau, or any time I actually MUST purchase something with a credit card. But I find it more healtful, if I walk to a store & use good old American CASH. I guess that’s why I’m not in a credit crunch today. I also feel as if I’m helping our NEAR DEATH ECONOMY, when I go to a store whic employs a real live human being. Personally, I know we can complain about these info sites, but the truth is, we live in a free market economy. I give these people credit (your credit not mine) for making money instead of being on the US govt.healthy & fake worker PAYROLL, i.e WELFARE. You know what I mean? Those who have kid after kid, just to get a greater windfall from our tax dollars. Yet, most of these people live with a person the government isn’t aware of and that person sits around all day, doing nothing or rides around in that high end car, you and I could never afford. While these “Info compaines” are annoying, at least they are paying Federal taxes! By selling our personal info–yes it is an economic benefit and it does create at least, some jobs.
    So! If the site you’re using doesn’t require a credit card and just wants your name or other info, DON’T GIVE THE REAL NAME OR ADDRESS! Make one up. As long as it’s not for an illegal purchase, I’d bet it’s not going to land you or me in jail. We may complain but the reality of this situation is, we did this to ourselves; let’s just take the consequences. It’s far too late, Pandora’s Box is already opened If we’d been smart enough to use the old fashioned Yellow & White Pages these companies wouldn’t exist today.-Personally I use snail mail as often as possible when I have a comment to write, a complaint or need to communicate something. HOWEVER, having a very, very little bit of legal experience, I learned a trick from a very good and MORAL (believe it or not) attorney. USE AN EXCEPTION FOR PERSONAL INFO USE clause on all communication. At the top & bottom of any written communication, especially a FAX, I write the following: This document includes personal and private, proprietary information. “No one may not use any name or personal info. contained in this document, except that which is stipulated as the purpose of this letter”. I usually end it with: any individual or company misuing these data will be held legally accountable in a court of law. At this point, whomever reads it, thinks you’re either deadly serious, you’re a lawyer ready to sue for any reason at all, or you are deranged enough to call and annoy them constantly if their company uses your information.:) Sign your name differntly such as a middle initial on some documents, or sign is with your first name as an inital. Then if you receive mail, you’ll know which company had that format on file. Call them & annoy them!
    But–The truth is, we do have a “right to privacy” but not the one we had before the Internet came along. On the other hand, some states such as Florida are an enigma when it come to privacy. They have “SUNSHINE LAWS”; everything is fair game except your health records. You don’t have a legal leg to stand upon in a Sunshine Law state. Almost everything is in a county book somewhere.
    You know what’s funny? I didn’t open this site for the reason most did. I wanted to find which of these Personal Data sites give the most for your money. I’ve come to accept my loss of informational privacy, the day I began using the Internet. It’s a fact of life and it’s too bad.
    However, there is another issue which I find very annoying but I do something about it. That issue is, “unwanted soliticing telephone calls”. What a good time I have answering these calls. I do it in a very special way. Let’s say for instance,
    you see a number you know is an organization hitting you up for a donation? Just answer the call with the following: “Hello, FIREHOUSE! What is the nature of your emergency please?” This usually paralyzes the person on the other end from speaking. Or another real winner answer is: “Hello, you’ve reached Peaceful Pines Funeral Home, will you be wanting our special on cremation this month, or full funeral service for your loved one?” Make sure you don’t let the person on the other end, get the first words in though. One problem: if it happens the call is legitimate, remember, they can’t see you blush. Just say,”Sorry, you’ve reached a wrong number, please try your number again?” I suggest, when or if they call again, you don’t answer.Let your voicemail pick this call up!
    You do realize, we are all at fault with this personal informational FALLOUT right? AWhat we cannot do is read an individuals mind; we don’t know if their intentions are legitimate, or not. I personally see the need and legitimacy to find personal information on some individuals in today’s society. What we must not assume is that all inquire info, are evil stalkers. Nor will they use our data to unscrupulous ends. Most simply want to make money; that’s not a bad thing. Especially if it keep “some” people off the Federal Dole.
    If people who wish to maintain their privacy in all matters, they should not use the Internet at all! But, I have an alternate means to maintain my privacy. If I am on any site which I feel does not require my information, I simply use an “alternate name”. The only time I see this as a problem is if you are preparing your income taxes or purchasing online. Otherwise, I feel if one is that reckless with their information, they have no one but themselves to blame if they are being bothered by companies who want to sell them the Brooklyn Bridge. Just be aware of one issue which I personally find as comical. If you wish to find persons’ “current” address, in order to send them a Christmas/Hanukah card, the United States Postal Service has a secondary link. It directs you to “White Pages” or whitepages.c, om. I’ve used this site in the past and found it quite helpful. However, I’m an individual whose intentions are legitimate. The sad thing about this whole issue is, now WhitePages.com has begun to charge for the information that was free just a few years ago. Now, it’s like the other predatory sites which not only over charge you for information that use to be free both online and in the BOOK (yes a real book with which one could use their reading skills to find an address & phone number). However, in my particular area of the country, we don’t receive the White nor Yellow Pages now.
    Therefore, I do not see any way around the lack of privacy, since the Internet has become the vehicle of choice to obtain personal information
    I realized well after I read this article, I actually wanted to know, which of these information sites, was the most scrupulous and gave me information witout “ripping me off”. But then I discoered it was written to complain about these informational site. How embarrased am I?
    Yes indeed,I clicked on this link, to find which site was best but I still don’t know. I want to use these sites but it seems, this information is not as easy to find as I’d hoped.
    In summary, if individuals use the Internet, (I am as guilty as everyone) then we have no one to blame for lack of privacy but ourselves. This is still a free country, even if the entrepreneurs using peoples’ information as a means of income are not as scrupulous as they should be. I ask, is there any reason to complain about it? I think not.
    Sadly, I’m not as upset about the informational IT sites as I am with the phoney phone calls asking for donations, or those selling me something. They always call when I’m just falling asleep; I work night shift as a simple nurse. I think I’ve found a fun way to stop these calls if anyone is interested in this topic?
    When the phone rings, do yourselves a big favor, get that stress right out and yell at them at the top of your lungs. It’s good therapy. Better still, if you’ve got caller ID, when they call again and you recognize the number, what I find quite amusing is to answer: FIREHOUSE WHAT’S YOUR EMERGENCY PLEASE? Then just hang up. Or the best one is: Hello, we are here to comfort you: You’ve reached–SMITH’S,(use whatever name you like) FUNERAL HOME. We are sorry for your loss Will you be needing a full burial? Or is your loved one to be creamated. We treat their “creamains” with the utmost of care.” interested. You can stay on to hear the telemarketer sound flustered. That’s if you want a good time? After I’ve done either of these first, I feel so good I’ve pulled one over instead of being the sap who answered a telemarketer’s call. Secondly, I NEVER get another call from that company again.
    Good Luck Folks but I believe we’re too far gone to maintain our privacy, so let’s learn to live with it, or get creative; find a way to fool those who believe we are the fools.
    Best Regards,
    Dr. Benjamin Franklin

    • speaking for the people says:

      Why be so upset about those hard working telephone marketers; they are just working for their income, right? That’s at least a reason you give the ok to those hard-working online information aggregators, right? I don’t know how in the world your phone number got in the hands of even 1 telemarketer-“I have an alternate means of maintaining my privacy.” I can prevent it cause I never give my real # to anyone. right?
      Do us all a favor and make more unrelated, ridiculously long, and equally ignorant comments, please-we have so much to learn from you, nut job.

      • tee dee says:

        You don’t speak for me. Your uncalled-for slur proves you’re a troll, which is worse than a nut job.

        I enjoyed Ben Franklin’s post and learned from it. I too came here to find out the best site, having used Spokeo for a year and found it wanting. I need the info to protect myself from a violent man.

        • aaron says:

          he has a point… it was awkward, to say the least.

        • Eva Tramell says:

          Everyone should have an alternate web-based email address to use for those websites that require email verification in order for you to get info. Info should be free, but if they want an email address, I give them one, check for the website’s “verification” email, click the link in the email, and I’m a new, verified user. If a credit card is required, they don’t need my business, and won’t get mine.

          Use a password keeper type of app to record the alternate email address & password, just in case you don’t use it frequently, or create a new one on the fly. If it’s a site I may frequent, I record the website and the website’s login info under the comments section of my alternate email listing in my password keeper app.

          If I want to make a purchase, if I must & only if I must, I’ll use my “real” email address.

    • Anonymous says:

      Hi Ben, a trick I’ve found is to stall telemarkters by telling them to hold on while I get the Owner, manager, the person they want etc.wait less than a min. Repeat the process a few times, while U get the right person.This way you’ll waste their Time & Money and will cut down on these type of calls,because they also pass this info on to their coworkers in that same company! That secondary link to the P.O. ; whitepages.c,om must be typo ?
      .

      • tee dee says:

        That’s a good idea! Sometimes I think I pay for this phone so the telemarketers have a number to call. MOST of the calls to my business line are from telemarketers. I’ve been asking them to remove me from their list, but they just hang up and many of them call again and again.

    • Crazy over board u write way too much. Better move to Amazon …that is the rain forest not webpage lol

    • aaron says:

      “Ben Franklin”

      The beginning of your post seemed smart, but the sheer extent of your post scares me, and is enough to scare anyone. I am shocked, and have never seen anyone with such an obsessive-compulsive disorder in regards to the simple topic of “privacy”.

      You really need to go outside and enjoy your surroundings… maybe even get around to enjoying your life in the process.. It’s that simple.

    • Anonymous says:

      Ben, reading this, if I didn’t know better my husband could have written all you wrote. All I can say is you’re right on the money. The first time any of us logged on to the Internet, knowing it or not, we opened our private lives to everyone.
      The sad thing is, when the Internet was “new” there wasn’t a clue, the education WE PAY FOR, with our US TAXES, it would turn around to bite us on the ass. (Forgive my language)! Think about it? In the very early 90’s, we hadn’t a clue, the info we put online would be used to open our private lives to every PC savvy kid who still lives with their parents, went to Universities but DON’T KNOW WHAT A FAIR DAY’S WORK IS!

      I especially liked your comment on those who are on Welfare….again, paid for by our hard earned money, given away by slimy politicians.

      I could go on forever commending your comments; they’re so TRUE and sad. Now, we’re not only gong to pay through our noses for lazy Americans who don’t have the decency to keep their pants zipped or their legs closed, NOW, we’re supposed to pay for every kid who is dropped from their unmarried mother’s womb and who are NOT AMERICAN BORN,
      YEP, I’M “POLITICALLY INCORRECT” and damn proud to be!
      What’s happening to this Alleged Free Society, is now not safe for person or personal information. That’s why we’re packed& ready to move to a place that’s been untouched by these vermin…far north UK. I’m not saying where cause if I do, everybody will want to move there.
      Just had to comment on YOUR comments. Thanks, it’s not so frustrating to know, there are others who are mad as Hell too. Now, if we who were will do what the parasites of society do, get out on the streets, during a normal workday, destroy a new pharmacy & steal everything they can…NOT BECAUSE THEY DESERVE ANY CONSIDERATION, just because they and the creeps on the Internet are ANIMALS!
      Martha Washington

    • Eva Tramell says:

      Enjoyed your commentary. I took notes and got one to add:
      Hello. Eva Trammell. You’ve reached the Red Room, but I’m tied-up right now.

  18. Mark says:

    Opting out or removing your information from people search, public records websites, etc. seems all well and good. The fact remains that you can never remove the public itself whether it be a deed, trust deed, notice of default, court record, etc., by opting out. The only way to remove a public record is through a legal process whether it be sealing, expungement, purging, or destruction. All these search sites does is make it easier and faster to locate records, but anyone can search and purchase these records directly from the official government website.

  19. betthany says:

    These sites can serve numerous important purposes. I know someone who had an associate abscond with their shared property and they just went into hiding. There are so many reasons that a person may need to reach out to someone and to say these sights are always a bag negative thing can be debated endlessly. Mostly if you have nothing to hide who cares if you can be contacted? If you are celebrity or something perhaps then it is a different matter and there are many different matters when privacy counts. Numerous. But what about the good these sites do?

  20. Jeff says:

    peoplefinder.com and peoplefinders.com are different companies. You wrote about peoplefinder.com but scored peoplefinders.com as number 1. Which company did you intend to write about?

  21. lissette says:

    My question what can I do to get remove my information from online like radaris I called reputation and they said it is impossible because it’s public record you have to pay and I said hell no anyone from radaris from the carribean because that is where they are located no phone number just very fishy. I want to know what I can do to get myself removed from these websites!

  22. AMANDA says:

    You can only submit a “contact us” form to get removed but I have yet to get a reply. No option to “opt out”

  23. Jeff says:

    Since I ran across this website I feel the need to add my two cents in. You’re misleading people about these people search companies. They do provide information but nothing more than what you can find yourself with a little internet knowledge. They utilize “public records” for the information they provide you. The key word here people is “public records” anyone can obtain them. Let’s see one of these companies provide: actual verified D.O.B., relatives, cell phone, unlisted numbers, email addresses, current and previous employers, vehicle info, aka’s, spouses, neighbors, assets, bankruptcies, criminal records, etc…They can’t it’s not all on “public records” My company alone utilizes 5 national database companies that do not sell data to the private sector. You have to be a private investigator, police, and insurance company. We have to past a thorough business credit history, office inspections, data security and so on. We have a lot of people come to us after failing on one if not all of the sites you mentioned. They will come to us and usually say the information they provided me we was kind of correct but I still don’t know how I can contact them or meet with them. They had no working phone numbers and the address is no longer correct. We see it all the time public records are not always the answer. Sure we may cost a few dollars more than one of the companies you’re talking about but the information you obtain is guaranteed far beyond what they can provide. One more thing if you do not have to physically sign any type of contract agreement. They are not going to provide anything more than public information and not a detailed report. I own a private investigation agency http://www.InvestigateThem.com If you need to find someone utilize a private investigative agency.

  24. Casey says:

    Use this link to file a complaint against Radaris.com or any other people search site you are having troubles with. http://odrcomplaint.bbb.org/odrweb/public/NewComplaintForm.aspx?Qualified=y&BBBID=3&BusinessID=119946

  25. Jeff Fort says:

    I *HEART* Radaris.com !! Hello TATYANA!!

    See Link Below…

    http://companies.findthecompany.com/m/l/23920377/Radaris-Llc-in-Wellesley-MA

    I dont know how accurate the data w/in the above link is, however, I think it would be a caring & thoughtful endeavor if we all send Tatyana Miller, or Tatyana V. Miller a Thank You Card, or perhaps a “Seasons Greetings” card come holiday season! Good idea?

    Tatyana would love a card or fruit basket, no? *Please, I do not condone nor am I suggesting ANY sort of illicit or unsavory behavior. Let’s simply all send Tatyana a card or maybe a flower arrangement? Maybe write her and ask her if she’d like to go out to lunch? Call her up to thank her for doing a bang-up job as Acting Principal over at Radaris Headquarters!

    In fact, I think Tatyana Miller or Tatyana V. Miller (approx. 57 to 58 yrs old) AND her family would all appreciate a friendly, unsolicited card or amicable letter?

    Tatyana can likely be found in North Weymouth, MA, or perhaps Brighton, MA. She also has ties to Brookline, MA.

    I’m sure any of her family would love to hear from fans of Radaris.com (again, she is the reported company “Principal”). So give a shout out to Tatyana Miller or look-up her family members and send them a friendly note or give them a polite phone call?

    I’m sure any of her family would love to hear how we appreciate Tatyana’s efforts in the Personal Information data brokering profession!
    Try any of her relatives…
    Dennis Miller
    Katerina Miller
    Oleg Miller
    Oleg O. Miller
    Katy Miller

    Thank you so much Tatyana! I really appreciate what you and your company are doing for the Public Good!

    Best Wishes,
    Jeff Fort
    Chicago IL

    • Anonymous says:

      Not true!

    • Anonymous says:

      I am so glad that you posted this! It is so hurtful and invasive to read the list of possible relatives and possible places to find yourself–especially since I have stalked and harassed and I don’t think a business concern should put your family–estranged, minors and otherwise in danger. I HATE THE INTERNET!!!

    • Anonymous says:

      That is hysterical and brilliant to say the least…awesome idea. Should be posted somewhere on those people search websites. Dam, where is a super genius hacker when u need one?

  26. I was try all of your list. But i don’t know, i feel not satisfied with that until i try to build website people finder that i need.

  27. Jon Koch says:

    Poor Tatyana. Looks like her beloved husband just died last year. Karma’s a bitch. I’m sure she would love to hear from everyone who *HEARTS* Radaris.

    legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=&pid=161945076&referrer=0&preview=True

    OLEG MILLER, Oleg Age 57, of Brighton, formerly of Brookline on Saturday, December 22, 2012.
    Beloved husband of Tatyana (Khudyakova) Miller.
    Loving son of Lydia and Efim Miller. Devoted
    father of Dennis and Katerina. Dear brother of
    Elena Zaretsky. . .

  28. Jeff Bic says:

    Please clarify. peoplefinder.com and peoplefinders.com are different companies. You wrote about peoplefinder.com but scored peoplefinders.com as number 1. Which company did you intend to write about?

  29. Jeff says:

    PeopleFinders is a complete rip-off! Don’t do business with them! I signed up for a trial subscription that I thought was for one month for the price of $19.95. When I received the receipt, it was for 24 hours! Why in the world would I pay $19.95 for 24 hours! I called customer service to find out how they were going to correct the problem. They told me I had not placed any order but with another company called “Trial Pay”. Hmm – the order was placed through the PeopleFinders web site or a link on the site. I have receipt that says “peoplefinder.com”, but PeopleFinders says they have no record. This is a complete bull. It appears the PeopleFinder may have signed up with some 3rd party marketing company. However, they have made it so confusing, you can’t tell whom you are dealing with. This is an unethical practice to gouge the consumer. Maybe PeopleFinders is not legally at fault, but with these unethical practices, it is a company I would recommend not doing business with. Unfortunately, for PeopleFinder I was impressed by their search capability and ready to upgrade to full service membership at $45 per month. However, I am not going to do conduct business with a company with such poor practices.

    • OH BOY says:

      peoplefinders.com is considerably worse than a rip-off. I never entered a name in question
      however received a charge for a report I NEVER initiated. They will charge you if you enter
      your personal info. but you must enter that first. PLUS their website touts obsessively about
      *ENTER ANY NAME AND SEARCH FREE*. BEWARE OF PEOPLEFINDERS.COM SCAM!
      THE ONLY THING WORSE IS THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER .AWFUL !!!!!!!!!!!!

  30. GB says:

    Radaris is one of the worst. You can’t get a hold of anyone from customer service. Their opt out doesn’t work and they don’t answer voice messages and never reply to their online customer support forms.

  31. When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment
    is added I get several e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service?
    Appreciate it!

  32. Gina says:

    I am retired & want my privacy. I tried to remove my name from these people search sites. Radaris was uncooperative. They insist you open an acct. Foolishly, I did. I thought my info & theirs had to match. They have no financial info & my name on site is a DBA. Well, guess what…couldn’t remove my name, and despite their site directions, accts can’t be closed! So now I have to worry they will sign me up for services & harass me for payment! Can’t anything be done abt this? I have spent sleepless nights & am worried sick abt this. All this for privacy!

  33. jessica says:

    Hello,

    very nice article. I think http://www.finderio.com is pretty good and for free:) try it yourself

  34. Mike says:

    I just sighed up for Spokeo, but found that they have no ability to search other than the 5 criteria they display above the input box, i.e. no advanced search capabilities. This means that a search could bring up >1000 hits. According to the Spokeo CS rep, looking at any one of those hits counts against your 20 searches/month. For me, this rendered the subscription unusable. They did say that they were updating the searching criteria in the near future.

    I was only on for less than an hour before I realized the constraint. I asked and Spokeo did cancel my subscription. They also provided a full refund for my subscription. Unlike some of the comments I’ve read here on this board, cancelling and the refund was very easy and the Spokeo CS rep was quite friendly and professional.

    Only when they provide an advanced search capability would I recommend this service.

  35. […] The best and worst of people search websites – on Abine.com […]

    • i love how you work things lmao taymurralove

    • OH BOY says:

      PLEASE CHECK PEOPLEFINDERS.COM WEBSITE. THEY CLAIM THAT YOU CAN FIND A NAME AND SEARCH FOR FREE. THAT CLAIM IS UNTRUE. I NEVER EVEN SEARCHED
      FOR ANYONE, NEVER EVEN CLICKED VIEW REPORT YET A CHARGE OF $19.95 APPEARED ON MY CREDIT STATEMENT. UPON INQIRY WAS ARGUED WITH ANGRILY BY A CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER WHO SAID SHE HAD TO PAY HER VENDORS
      AND HAD NO WAY TO PROVE WHAT I SAID. I LITERALLY PAID $19.85 TO ENTER MY PERSONAL INFORMATION THAT WAS DEEMED NECESSARY. OMG WHAT A SCAM!
      *******************************BEWARE PEOPLEFINDERS.COM********************************

  36. joe says:

    Many of them offer free search results but charge for more detailed reports. Even so, the costs are usually very low. For example, $2.95/month on Spokeo.com gets you a person’s social networking site memberships and profiles, phone numbers, email addresses, home address, full name, family history, hobbies, and estimated net worth. If someone’s set on finding out everything about you, $2.95 won’t stop him.

    Spokeo charges 4.95/month for the so called premium service but with that you are only allowed 20 name searches per month and that is about the same as what you could get for free on spokeo. I subsribed to “premium” but was only allowed access to social networking,email and phone for an additional fee. This is pure fraud,bait and switch and false advertising. The information is dubious at best.

    This is a criminal organization. Run from these cyber thieves.

    “If someone’s set on finding out everything about you, $2.95 won’t stop him.”

    LOL. How much did this guy get payed by spokeo to write this? Correction,if you want someone looking for you sent down wrong trails,hope he is using spookeo.

  37. Elmar says:

    Please sign the petition on change.org. We need stop this crap and have a right to contain basic privacy.

    https://www.change.org/p/us-congress-attorney-general-us-attorney-general-hillary-clinton-michael-g-grimm-support-privacy-and-human-rights?

  38. Judybug says:

    If you want to find someone for free I have a group on facebook called WHERE ARE YOU I find friends and family that you have lost touch with. Maybe you been wanting to find an old school friend from high school You can look for a family member that moved away and you lost their information. Just who ever you want to find except adopted information. I do the search for free. I cannot guarantee I can find them but I have a 95% success rate. If you give me good information to search for them then I can find more information for you. If you are interested in finding someone please come to my facebook group and ask to join. After you are approved post who it is your looking for. Please be sure to read the introduction to what is needed for the search. Here is the link I hope you will try my group first before you pay any money.

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/judydoolittle51/

  39. Lavern Kelly says:

    Michael Dennis Mcewen found me on some of these sites. I had him investigated by my ex, and he is a con artist pretending to be a fashion clothes designer. And married. With 6 kids by 4 other women. He is 40 so he says. I had him arrested for stealing my diamond earrings, but dropped charges after 2 days. He mailed it back the next day. He is a handsome Caucasian male, watch out ladies.

  40. The fact that you have Spokeo on here under anything remotely good, just goes to show what a dumbass you are. Records are SO old. I found more stuff just looking on Google. Give me a break.

  41. poputrust says:

    if you need more you can check here poputrus

  42. poputrust says:

    popular people search websites click here

  43. Mary says:

    Whitepages Is the worst. Thier info is sparse at best and at least 5 years outdated. People dont fall off the face of the earth when they use credit cards and collect govt money. Their custoner service is horrible. Nothing but flimsy excuses. Id rank them last.

  44. yhee jayme says:

    hello everyone im from Philippines my friend has no contact with her sister for 21yrs no communication can you please help us her name is Catherine Joy Celiz 45 husband walen jaber from florida.

  45. Jose Walter says:

    A new People Finder that you may find interesting. http://www.2WaySearch.com – The Non-Intrusive People Finder.

  46. akki panwar says:

    nice post

  47. DONALD EDEN says:

    my experience is that it is such a SCAM! 1) They get you accept Terms and Conditions to get a report. 2) To get the report, you pay and are given a voucher. 3) You find out that if you use the voucher, you are automatically signed up for a monthly subscription. 4) To opt out and cancel, you have to PAY!!! It is probably in their Terms and Conditions, but I think it is still fraud. Read the Terms and Conditions, before you click an “Accept” button!

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