The internet is one of the innovative technologies over the last few decades. Virtually every service in Singapore is now online, from shopping, health, fitness, educational programs, and dating, to trading. With increasing reliance on the internet, users expose a lot of personal information which third parties use for commercial gain. A lot of information about your life is online, and this poses privacy issues.
If you’ve an upcoming job interview, for instance, the potential employer can easily get information about your past from a background check website. Details about your past could ruin your chances in such a job.
Removing yourself from background check websites can protect your reputation and minimize the risk of identity theft. Read on to find out how to do this using an online reputation service.
Exposing Your Personal Information
Have you ever considered how much information about yourself or your family is online? This is not a major concern until something goes wrong. Now that internet technology is part of your daily life, you inadvertently share lots of information about yourself on social media and subscription websites.
Background check websites and person search websites also have more details about your life especially from public records. Sharing such information online doesn’t seem like a big deal until a hacker uses these details to wipe out your bank account. The increase of identity theft and other fraudulent activities online makes exposure of your personal information riskier than ever.
People search and background check websites provide some information that’s sensitive and even inaccurate. People checking such details might use the information to deny you opportunities such as jobs or business deals. Worse still, the searchers might use the information maliciously to besmirch your online reputation.
With so much of your information online, it’s easy for smart hackers to create a fake identity and even forged documents. The hackers then use the fake profile to commit fraud, which causes a lot of harm to your reputation.
Before you know it, you might trend to all the wrong people because of the identity theft. Innocent people have even found themselves under scrutiny by international law enforcement because of forgeries and scams.
A quick search for identity theft cases in Singapore and across the globe shows you the magnitude of the problem. With so much information about you out there, there’s a risk of crucial details about your life becoming public. This might cause irreparable damage to your personal or business brand.
What Information Can Be Collected and Exposed?
Some personal details available on these data websites include:
- Home address/ phone numbers/ Fax number
- Your name
- Family members’ personal information
- Criminal records, including arrests, convictions, and fines
- Social media accounts
- Records of birth and death
- Your social networks’ footprint or what you’ve been doing online
- License or drivers’ number
- Financial information
- Marriage status, and licenses
These websites collate the data from multiple sources. Many websites have privacy policies but users rarely check on the same. This means they can share personal information with third parties. Some of your personal information might be available on government platforms as public information. By compiling this data, these websites provide a complete picture of your life which might be inaccurate.
Whether it’s an employee doing a background check, a landlord reviewing your tenancy application, or a client checking for more information about you online, the information is readily available. Despite the stringent privacy laws in the country, background and person search websites still provide personal information without your approval. Such information has the potential to ruin your reputation.
Background Check Websites Explained: Personal Info Shared on the Web
The concept of a background check website is great. The websites seek to provide access to people looking for credible information about others. Such people could be employees, utility providers, colleges, spouses, and others. Unfortunately, personal information is sensitive and with the poor regulation of internet platforms, the data might end up in the wrong hands.
These websites collect personal information from myriad sources and package it under one platform. The information about an individual is easy to find now that people share readily on social media and other platforms. Some common sources of information include:
- Public records from local, state, and federal government
- Social media platforms
- Dating sites
- Data broker sites
- Private databases
A single background search website has personal information for millions of people. The information includes names, addresses, family details, financial details, and other sensitive information. While you might have shared this information while subscribing for services or paying for products, you still wouldn’t want the details shared.
The availability of so much information makes these websites popular and they even charge for the data. Data is the most valuable asset today and these websites have an easy way to cash on this gold mine. However, this is at the expense of millions of people who don’t want their personal details shared online.
The background search websites don’t have your safety and security in mind when selling this data. Within no time, the people buying the data could use it maliciously to ruin your reputation or even cause other kinds of harm. Exposing family details for instance exposes your family to harm yet these websites don’t consider this.
The worst part about these websites is the fact that you have no say about the personal information as the owner. One moment you’re trying to build your brand and the next someone posts a record abuts your arrest from years back.
Of course, bad news spreads fast and before you know it, all the work you had put into your brands disappears. You have to put in even more work to repair the damaged reputation. The availability of these background search websites 24/7 and the affordable fees for personal background searches makes them a powerful tool. For this reason, you have to find a way to remove yourself from background checks and person search platforms.
Top Background Check Websites Sharing Personal Data
For you to protect your safety and security, take a step to remove yourself from background check websites. The move also protects your reputation. The following are some top background check websites you should target first. If you manage to remove yourself from these websites, the personal information and that of your family also disappears. Take a look:
- Acxiom.com
- Addresses.com
- Advanced-people-search.com
- USA-People-Search.com
- USSearch.com
- WhitePages.com
- Advancedbackgroundchecks.com
- AnyWho.com
- BeenVerified.com
- PeopleFinders.com
- Truthfinder.com
- USSearch.com
- Clustrmaps.com
- DexKnows.com
- Easybackgroundchecks.com
- Emailfinder.com
- FreePhoneTracer.com
- PeopleLookup.com
- TheIdentityPages.com
- Thepublicrecords.com
- PeopleSmart.com
- DOBSearch.com
- Intelius.com
- Identitypi.com
- InstantCheckmate.com
- LexisNexis.cominternet-security
- MyLife.com
- PeekYou.com
- PeopleSmart.com
- PrivateEye.com
- Peoplefinders.com
- Peoplelooker.com
- Phonesbook.com
- PeopleLookup.com
- Premium.whitepages.com
- PublicRecordsNow.com
- Spoke.com
- Spokeo.com
- Radaris.com
- ZabaSearch.com
Each of these websites has its own rules on opting out and you need to visit each to start the process. This might take time. This is where the services of an online reputation professional come in handy. These online search experts know the best way to handle the background check websites, including suppressing the negative results.
Opt Out: How to Remove Yourself from Background Check Websites
If you have used the internet for some time now, it’s highly likely that your personal information is readily available on background check websites. Every other day, you sign up for a service or a product and the data you provide might end up with a third-party.
The background check websites provide an easy process for you to opt out. However, this means you have to visit all the major websites and try the opt out option. The websites have to verify our identity which requires you to upload some documents.
Here are some opt out options/links for the popular background check websites:
- PeopleSmart.com; opt-out
- PrivateEye.com; opt-out
- PeekYou.com; opt-out
- USSearch.com; opt-out
- Acxiom.com; opt-out
- PeopleFinders.com; opt-out
- LexisNexis; opt-out
- Zabasearch: opt-out here.
Other background search websites require documentation, while others ask you to send a request through an email address provided. A quick background search of yourself can reveal the amount of personal information available to strangers out there. If this information falls into the wrong hands, your world could turn upside down in no time. This is a good reason to learn how to remove negative content from the internet.
Social Media Websites Share Your Details
Social media is another rich source of personal information. The original purpose of these platforms was to connect family and friends, but today, there’s so much happening on social networks. Most likely, you’ve shared a lot about your past on social media and one can easily track your life by looking through your posts.
Employers, clients, schools, old classmates, and anyone else can find out more about you through social media posts. These platforms contain precise details about your address, employment, family, and much more.
Your insurance company, for instance, can check whether you’ve had an accident over the last few years to confirm your application form. A landlord can learn more about your opinion on rental properties before accepting your application for a house.
If you have a lot of negative information about yourself, it’s time to opt-out of information sharing on each platform. Some people find it easier to delete their accounts altogether. The most efficient way is to use a data removal expert who has the tools and expertise to remove bad stuff from your social platforms.
How Can RepGuardian in Singapore help?
Do you want to remove any content from the internet? Whether you have negative search results on search engine result pages (SERPs), social media, or background check websites, our data removal experts at RepGuardian can help.
We’re a team of legal and IT experts who combine skills to help clients protect their reputation. We use highly effective strategies to remove negative content across online platforms to protect your reputation. To deliver the best results, we tailor our services to suit your needs. Contact us today for help to remove yourself from background check websites.
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