Spokeo: Scary Bad & How to Opt Out
I found out a way to get yourself off spokeo.com!
Go to the website and look yourself up, then click on your name… once you have done that copy the URL in your web browser. Now, go to the bottom of the page. In small faded blue text, click privacy (third from the left). At the bottom of this page, you will find an “Opt Out form” link. Select that and then paste the URL link you copied from the page you found yourself on and enter your email and the “I’m not a robot” box. This is a case where I would use a second email account (your designated junk-email account), not your main email to avoid the build up of possible spam emails that follow. It will then send you an email confirmation where you must click the URL to confirm removal. Voila! You have been removed.
John Sileo is an an award-winning author and keynote speaker on identity theft, internet privacy, fraud training & technology defense. John specializes in making security entertaining, so that it works. John is CEO of The Sileo Group, whose clients include the Pentagon, Visa, Homeland Security & Pfizer. John’s body of work includes appearances on 60 Minutes, Rachael Ray, Anderson Cooper & Fox Business. Contact him regarding speaking opportunities directly on 800.258.8076.
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24 Responses to Spokeo: Scary Bad & How to Opt Out
Thank you so much for posting these instructions. A friend just discovered she was on Spokeo, so of course the rest of us had to check, and a mass panic would have ensued had I not come here.
My married name cannot be found, but my maiden name was. After following the instructions, I saw that I can still look myself up by name, and it gives my street address, city and state, yet clicking on my name says “Could not load profile.” Is that the best I can hope for?
Becky
They change their rules and interface so often that I cannot give a consistent answer on that question. You used to be able to get rid of everything, they have probably changed that. Isn’t it maddening?
Definitely! Ah, well, at least it’s less than it was.
I had a girlfriend who had some concerns about my past. I was open and honest with her but she was a bit paranoid and continued to look at my past. She found spokeo and it sent her on a wild goose chase for months. She continually confronted me on info, some true and I admitted to it and some not true. There are multiple people with my name but because of its rarity it lumped me with other names similar. I share first and last name but middle is different. This ended up ruining our relationship and she shortly spiraled out of control until she committed suicide. I know it is not directly there fault but I found that I am still there. I want them to remove me forever. I want to sue there asses off for there obvious irresponsible transmission of private data that lead to my girlfriends death.
Wouldn’t doing that be just confirming to what they *claim* to have found on you?
Well they had me but their information is inaccurate such as they claim I’m late 40s when I am no where near my late 40s yet* Trying to get them to remove me since they’re highly inaccurate on their information. They also happen to have old address information correct, not my current which is kinda funny. Spokeo I hope everyone knows is not accurate and they don’t bother to be. I tried to get myself removed a few months ago but was unable to, I couldn’t even get them to fix the information to make it accurate at the very least not that I want that amount of private info online in the first place.
I have been able to get my invalid outdated and significantly incorrect data profile removed from spokeo after carefully following your tutorial. It is still current as of 8-4-2012, Thank you.
Unfortunately they change their procedures all of the time, so it’s hard to keep up with. They generally have instructions somewhere on the site if you fish around a bit. Thanks, John
I had several old listings of addresses and in 2 different states, it only let me opt out of 6 of them and says ……………….. “In order to prevent abuse, we must limit the frequency of automated privacy requests.” So do I just wait to do it again later? Or what? I would like to get all of them off there…and thanks very much for that tip, way cool. 🙂
Sometimes if you clear your cookies on your computer (browser dependent), it won’t recognize you when you go back and delete some more. Otherwise, you just have to wait a bit and do it again. I’m glad this post helped you! John
Hey thanks, you get a 10 for ur input…lol. I’ve passed this one along to several ppl already and they’re pleasded too so thanks again.
After reading your article I removed myself from Spokeo 3 times x 4 finding of my name total of 12 removals – come back today and I am still there ???
This is very helpful, thank you. I have discovered one of the unfortunate blocks to removing oneself completely: Apparently they block removal requests after a certain number of them. It’s probably based on IP address, as I tried it with a few different browsers. F’ing parasites…
Doesn’t that just leave you with an oily feeling? Like an overcooked vegetable – I hate that they shut you down after a couple of attempts. You can install the TOR Project IP switching software and mask you IP address. That might help. Good luck.
Oily and angry. I filed a very, ah, STERN complaint with them about it. There are other ways to block form-fill spam besides blocking the IP address. Thanks for the tip. I’ll try that!
I just called the number on the bank statement 18006994264 and had myself removed/canceled.
Spokeo divulged the name of the person I was searching for to a third party.
spokeo is a thief, why they remain in a legal right ?, I had to cancel all accounts, but still they took the money credit card, but I do not use their services.
unable to cancel !!!!!
unable to cancel !!!!!!
still unable to cancel !!!!!
i guessw i’ll have to get a webmaster to cancel !!!!
DONE !!!!!!
Great instructions! Thank you!