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Websites that are giving out your personal information
If you browse a lot online you probably wonder which websites are giving out your personal information. Some do so unintentionally; maybe you posted something on their website and didn’t realize that that information could be seen by anyone. There are other websites, though, that purchase your information from data brokers and then post it on their websites. Many of these friend finder, people finder and background check websites are simply using data to lure people into signing up for their subscriptions or to pay a fee to get more data. Since people love to get dirt on other people, like enemies or others, they are easily roped into the click bait place on websites like this.
The only way to see which websites are sharing your private information is to do a search of yourself and go through all returned pages. When a description pops up with your name and it seems clear it’s you not just someone with the same name, then you should go to the site and see how much information they are posting. If it’s just your name and maybe your company you own or work for, then this is probably not going to be an issue for you. If, however, there is more private data you should take action. If you see things such as your home address, phone numbers, family names, former spouse names, children’s names, salary data, former addresses, parent names you’re going to want to make note of that website. This kind of information can be used to stalk you, scam you, or for identity theft. A new common scam is to track someone on social media to see when they are on vacation. By gathering information such as parent names, addresses and phone numbers, they can then call your parents or other relatives and say you’re in danger and need money to get out of trouble. Older relatives are often duped by this, and wanting to help you, will fork over thousands of dollars via wire transfer. It’s a dirty trick, but more than one parent and grandparent has fallen for the scam.
Anytime your private data is on any website, it’s not good. Anything that can provide lots of details about your private life can cause a lot of trouble for you and your family. Be careful about what you post online and on social media. Everyone does not need to know you are in Europe for four weeks, and information like this should never be posted online unless you know every single individual who follows you are is your friend, and that is rare. Also, be wary of giving out any data about exactly where you live, private things like social security numbers or bank information. Even telling someone online your kids’ names is probably not a good idea. Most of the time it’s perfectly safe and fine to interact on various websites, however, telling people specifics or talking to them via DMs is probably not wise.
When and if you do find websites that are posting your personal private data, you should take steps to have that information removed. You can do it yourself or have an online data removal company do it for you. Many companies are able to get this work done a lot faster and more completely than we are as individuals. They can also help guide you about what to avoid in the future to keeping your data private.
