PeopleLooker is a paid-for service that uses public records to create databases of personal information relating to named individuals in the US.

Stored data includes names, ages, addresses, phone numbers, family members, email addresses, social media accounts, vehicle information, and more – anything that can be scraped from publicly available documents.

Anyone willing to pay $22.86 per month can view this data, which makes it of particular concern to those who have been victims of abuse or, indeed, anyone who values their privacy.

The good news is that it’s relatively easy to remove entries from people-search sites. We’ll tell you exactly how to opt out of PeopleLooker, as well as how to remove yourself from the numerous other online data brokers making money out of trading your personal information.

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Why should I opt out of PeopleLooker?

While it bills itself as a way for individuals to “find out more about potential roommates” or to “check out someone you’re dating”, it’s not hard to see how the information provided by PeopleLooker could be used for harassment, stalking, or other nefarious activities such as online scams or identity theft.

It could also be used by those working within organizations to make decisions about employment, or by landlords screening potential tenants.

PeopleLooker is obviously aware of some of these potential issues. Its response is the requirement that users tick a box to promise that they won’t use retrieved data for decisions relating to other people’s credit, insurance, and the like. The cynical might question how effective this is. A better approach might be to notify the person being searched for – though PeopleLooker expressly states that this is exactly what they don’t do.

Ultimately, there are no real benefits to PeopleLooker being permitted to store your personal information. We recommend checking their site to see whether they have anything on you and, if they do, asking them to remove it.

How to manually opt out of PeopleLooker

1. Visit https://www.beenverified.com/app/optout/search and enter your name in the search field. This will check what personal information PeopleLooker has about you in its databases.

2. Select the record you would like to opt-out from using the displayed results.

3. Enter your email address, verify that you’re human, and click “Send Verification Email.”

4. Wait for an email from PeopleLooker containing a verification link. Click the link when it arrives and you’ll receive a confirmation email. PeopleLooker should now act on your record deletion request.

Your data should be removed after 24 hours. Check by searching again as per Step 1. Note that you should delete your browser history first.

How to opt out of other people-search sites

It’s not just PeopleLooker and BeenVerified that store information about you. There are plenty of other people-search sites making money from your personal data. These include: Truthfinder, Intelius, Instant Checkmate, US Search, PeopleFinders, and Pipl.

The proliferation of personal data online makes it relatively easy for these sites to scrape together a record. However, trying to manually remove yourself from them all – not to mention the hundreds of other data brokers – can be an arduous task.

If you’re serious about removing as much personal information as you can from online databases, then it might be worth investing in one of the services that does it for you. We recommend the following:

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The best services to opt out of people-search sites

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How to opt out of PeopleLooker – FAQs

[[post-object type=”accordion” question=”What if PeopleLooker doesn’t remove my data?” answer=”If you’ve submitted a removal request and your data is still showing up after 24 hours, you can get in touch with PeopleLooker via privacy@beenverified.com. Alternatively, you can begin the removal process again.

If PeopleLooker has multiple records relating to you, then you’ll need to get in touch with it directly as the removal process only allows for one record deletion.” /]]

[[post-object type=”accordion” question=”Does PeopleLooker store and sell my search data?” answer=”PeopleLooker says that it does not sell the email address that you provide as part of the Do Not Sell My Info/Opt-Out process, or use it for any other purpose, without your prior consent.” /]]

[[post-object type=”accordion” question=”Will my data reappear on PeopleLooker once deleted?” answer=”

It shouldn’t reappear on PeopleLooker, but it may well show up in the search results of other services available through BeenVerified. With so many data breakers continually scraping the internet and trading results, it’s a bit of a cat-and-mouse game trying to get all of your personal information deleted.

If people search sites concern you, your best option is to use a service like Incogni to do the work for you. While it’s possible to do it yourself, doing so is a time-consuming – and ongoing – process.” /]]

[[post-object type=”accordion” question=”Why can’t I use PeopleLooker to check out prospective employees?” answer=”According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), PeopleLooker and other non-Consumer Reporting Agency people search services cannot legally be used for any of the following: Employment Screening, Tenant Screening, Hiring Household Workers, Educational Qualification, Assessing Creditworthiness, or Business Transactions Initiated by an Individual Customer.

Those seeking other people’s information for any of these reasons are required to instead use a FCRA-governed Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA). Examples include Experian, Transunion, and Equifax.

However, in reality, there’s very little stopping landlords, employers or money-lenders using any of the publicly available people-search services. This makes it all the more important to take steps to remove your information from their databases – either manually or using a dedicated removal service.” /]]

Image credit: Marten Newhall on Unsplash