What is Spokeo, is it safe, and how to opt out for privacy

Have you ever Googled yourself and found way too much information? That’s where tools like Spokeo come in. What is Spokeo, exactly? Reviews say Spokeo is a people search engine that mines personal data and makes it visible to anyone. Sounds creepy, right?

Opting out of Spokeo is a wise thing to do if you care about privacy. Identity theft, stalking, or weird encounters do happen when your personal info lies around on the internet. Here, we’ll lay out the origins of what reviews say, if it’s safe, and how to keep your privacy before your entire life is open for reading.

What is Spokeo used for?

Spokeo is the nosy neighbor of the digital world and is much, much harder to avoid. It aggregates information from various sources, namely social media, public records and the like, to build a massive online database. It sells that data to curious individuals willing to pay for it. What do people use it for? A mix of reasonable, questionable, and downright creepy reasons.

Common uses for Spokeo include:

• Finding long-lost friends and family, or you wish to rekindle with someone you had an amazing friendship with as a kid.
• People are checking out potential dates or partners. After all, who does really trust someone until they verify they have no 15 different addresses?
• Background checking business partners. Some people like to know the background deets before shaking hands, to make sure the other person is not drowning in lawsuits beforehand.
• Casual (or not-so-casual) snooping. Among the many things that have crossed your mind after a breakup, did you ever consider where your ex lived? Spokeo can likely tell you, yeah.

Although these all seem to be benign reasons to use Spokeo people research, the darker side isn’t something to ignore. Equally as easy, your personal details can be accessed by stalkers, scammers and other bad actors.

How does Spokeo work?

For sure, Spokeo is basically a digital overachieving detective. Name, email, phone number, or address it, and it will retrieve you a discomfitingly exacting report. How does it really do it, though?

How the process works is approximately this:

1. Spokeo scrapes information from many sources, including public records, social media, property listings, court records, and marketing databases.
2. Data organization: It arranges data in a neat little profile, including your name, contact number, email address, relatives, and even financial information.
3. Search & Purchase: Anyone can search for your name and have a preview of the information that is available. They pay up if they want the full report.

The scary part? It is shockingly accurate at most times. Spokeo might have a few outdated details or inaccuracies, but it gives a great deal more than what’s required to locate someone.

Is Spokeo free to use?

Technically, yes. But also, it is not when you talk about premium features. Spokeo does not give the details unless you pay. You can search for free, although the real good stuff (addresses, criminal records, financial details) will cost you.

Here is how pricing plans is looking:

• Free Basic Search: A blurry outline of the person’s info without anything directly useful.
• Unlimited Searches ($19.95 monthly) include limited court records and historical data.
• Premium Plan ($24.95/month): The whole package – full reports, past addresses, and deeper background info.
• If you don’t want to subscribe, you can pay to purchase certain reports on an individual basis (Price varies).

The catch? Even when you are paying, data is not 100% sure.

Is it easy to cancel Spokeo?

Indeed, it is simple to cancel a subscription. They would not tie you to your membership, but they will give you second thoughts about your decision. You can expect pop-ups laced with guilt and last-minute bargain offers, and an overall feeling that you are “leaving too soon” vibe.

Here are the steps to follow if you insist on escaping:

1. Go to the official website and log in.
2. Go to “Account Settings” > “Cancel Membership.” 
3. Confirm your cancellation and check your email for confirmation. 

If you signed up via PayPal, you’ll also need to cancel through PayPal subscription settings. If it doesn’t detect a cancellation through that payment method, they might still charge you in the next month.

Is Spokeo safe & what risks it brings?

Spokeo itself isn’t a scam. Probably the most well-known descriptions of these tools are that they are creepy but perfectly legal data aggregators. But does that mean it’s safe? Not necessarily.

Why Spokeo is a future privacy horror story:

1. Intelligence that could be used to steal your personal information is up for grabs.

Would you give a stranger your address and telephone number without any reluctance? Probably not. But Spokeo does! And all a person has to do to find where you live is to click a few times.

2. It’s a goldmine for scammers.

Identity thieves love those people search sites so much. The easier it is to impersonate someone, the more information they can cull. Though Spokeo doesn’t hand over Social Security numbers, it offers enough particulars to make fraud much too straightforward.

3. It is a field day for stalkers and harassers.

Spokeo makes it effortless to track someone down if someone wants to track you. Assuming the ex, a less-than-salubrious salesperson, or a flat-out stalker, they can learn far too much about you.

4. The data isn’t always accurate.

Mistakes are made when Spokeo gets their information from multiple sources. Everything would be wrong if you were to discover that you’re ‘connected’ with criminal records that aren’t yours or that your home address is registered under somebody else. Not great.

5. You don’t control what’s shared.

You didn’t agree to be signed up for Spokeo, but your information is there anyway. It scrapes data that’s publicly available, so you have no say in whether or not you will show up in its database. Of course, you have to opt-out (which you should).

Is Spokeo safe? That depends on what you mean by safe. It’s not a virus or a scam. If you care about privacy, you might want to get yourself off the Spokeo database.

What does Spokeo show users?

A full Spokeo report contains:

• Full name and age.
• Phone numbers you appear to have on the current device, even numbers you may have had before. 
• Email addresses: Spammers use these to give open URL mails to phish in!
• Addresses (home addresses, past and present addresses): Spokeo won’t protect you from moving.
• It covers even those you’d never speak to, including family members and relatives.
• Social media profile is included if it’s public.
• Spokeo could dig up any criminal and court records that you have.

Basically, it’s a stalker’s dream – or a nosy acquaintance’s. And the worst part? And you don’t need to be famous for Spokeo to have a file on you. It collects information on everyone.

This is why many people choose to opt-out. No one wants their personal life displayed as a grocery store flyer.

Where does Spokeo get people’s information?

The bottom line is that you didn’t allow Spokeo to obtain your data, so where did it all come from? Turns out, everywhere.

Spokeo scrapes information from:

• Government databases – Public records, property deeds, court filings.
• Everything you’ve placed on the record is open to exposure: social media profiles, blogs, comments, dating websites, etc.
• Spokeo loves tracking where you’ve lived and has a lot of information found on property records.
• If you are tied to a business name, then you should expect it on the business listings.
• Firms sell customer data and marketing databases all the time.

Is this legal?

Unfortunately, yes. Spokeo isn’t breaking any laws because if it was public information, then Spokeo isn’t taking any liberty in gathering it up.

Is it ethical?

That’s a different question. Doing something because it can be done is not a good enough reason to do it. The bottom line? Companies, courts, and social media sites give away public data, and Spokeo exists. However, you can still voice your choice in the matter.

Why and how to opt out of Spokeo?

Good news! If you want to, you can remove yourself from Spokeo. Bad news? It’s a little tedious.

Step-by-step guide to opting out:

1. Search for yourself and copy the profile URL.

2. Click on the link to the Spokeo opt-out page.

3. It will then send you a confirmation link, in which you have to enter your email address.
4. Click the verification link from your inbox; this confirms your request.
5. It usually takes a few days to wait for removal.

Pro tip: More than one profile about you may be created on Spokeo. The process will have to be repeated for each listing. And that’s another step closer to enhanced safety and privacy.

Bonus tips for online safety and privacy

Getting rid of yourself on the Spokeo search website is a good beginning, yet it is insufficient to keep private. Here are more ways you can protect yourself and your loved ones online:

• VPN – An IP has to be hidden from anybody who wants to pry.
• Make social media accounts private, the more private, the better.
• Stop using the same password on multiple sites.
• Tools like FlashGet Kids also help take the risk away when kids are involved in the digital world. This parental control wonder will ensure your child remains protected. It allows you to monitor your child’s social media activity, real-time notifications and messages, searches and browsing history.

The internet won’t protect your privacy, take it upon yourself. And as a parent, it’s even more critical to create a safer environment for your child.

Wrap up

While Spokeo is technically legal, that does not mean that it is harmless. The reason for an alert both for digital security and privacy advocates, is that it collects and sells personal information without consent.

Luckily, you’re not powerless. The first thing that you can do is opt out of certain things online, as much as you can, to be safer simply because you have reduced your digital footprint.

Just stay private, stay smart, and be proactive about your and your kid’s digital safety. 

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