True People Search is a popular people search website that aggregates personal information from various public records and makes it easily searchable online. Many people are surprised and concerned to find their name, age, current and past addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and names of relatives publicly listed on this site. If you want to protect your privacy and remove your information from True People Search, here are the steps to follow.
Why You Should Remove Your Info from People Search Sites
Having your personal details easily accessible on people search sites like True People Search can lead to several risks:
- It enables stalking, harassment, and identity theft by making it simple for anyone to find your contact info and location.
- Outdated or inaccurate information can cause reputational harm, especially if seen by potential employers, clients, or dates.
- Your data can be scraped and sold to marketers and spammers, leading to unwanted calls, emails, and junk mail.
- It’s a violation of privacy to have your personal information publicly exposed without your consent.
Removing yourself from True People Search is an important step, but keep in mind your information is likely exposed on many other people search sites as well. Doing a Google search of your name can reveal how widespread the issue is.
How to Opt Out of True People Search
True People Search does offer a way for individuals to opt out and remove their listing from the site. Here’s how:
- Go to https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/removal
- Enter the email address you want the verification link sent to.
- Click the checkbox to accept the terms and conditions.
- Complete the CAPTCHA if prompted.
- Click “Begin Removal”.
- Open the email from True People Search and click the verification link to confirm. If you don’t see it, check your spam folder.
- On the next page, search for your listing by entering your name and city/state.
- Click “Remove this record” next to your listing.
- Confirm the removal on the next page.
The site states your info will be removed within 72 hours of completing these steps. However, many people report having to repeat the process multiple times before their listing is actually deleted.
Removing Your Info from Other People Search Sites
Opting out of True People Search is a good first step, but your information is almost certainly listed on many other people finder sites as well. Some of the most popular ones include:
- Whitepages
- Spokeo
- BeenVerified
- Intelius
- Radaris
- PeekYou
- Instant Checkmate
To maximize your privacy, you’ll need to go through the opt-out process for each site individually. This can be a tedious and time-consuming process.
Automated People Search Removal Services
If you don’t have the time or patience to deal with removing your information from dozens of people search sites yourself, there are paid services that can handle the process for you, such as:
- DeleteMe by Abine
- Privacy Bee
- OneRep
For an annual fee, these services will handle opting you out from the most popular people search sites and monitor for any new listings of your info that appear. This can save significant time and effort.
Minimizing Your Data Footprint Going Forward
Removing your personal information from people search sites is reactive – it solves the immediate problem but doesn’t address the root cause. To minimize your exposure on these sites in the future, you need to reduce the “data exhaust” you generate online. Some tips:
- Avoid oversharing personal details on social media and other public websites. Assume anything you post may end up in a database somewhere.
- Use privacy controls and unique usernames/emails for online accounts to make it harder to connect the dots between them.
- Opt out of data broker sites and marketing lists whenever possible.
- Use a virtual phone number and PO box for public-facing contact info.
- Enable privacy protections in your browser and avoid clicking on suspicious links that may be gathering data.
Guarding your privacy in the digital age requires ongoing effort and vigilance. But investing the time to remove your information from people search sites and reduce your data footprint is worthwhile to protect yourself from the many risks of overexposure.