All of this information is scary and continues to deepen as people add more and more info to their digital footprint. In 70 years, many of us will look back at our younger years and everything will be recorded. It could make for a strange and weird society. But what if you wanted to erase your digital footprint? Is this even possible you might ask? Possible yes. Difficult, absolutely. Every time you make an account, download an app or type in the search bar, it is recorded. This digital footprint is pretty significant for all of us. So how do we get rid of it? Well, I have compiled a few different tasks you can complete to minimize your digital footprint.

Search Yourself

It’s hard to begin to erase yourself from the internet, but the first thing you have to do is figure out where to start. Typing your name into a google search and looking things up is a good first step. This might seem trivial, but it’s actually pretty helpful. You might even be surprised by the number of accounts or pages that come up with your name. You can also set up a Google alert to tell you whenever your name or email address is used across the web using Google alerts.

Based on what you find, it might be helpful to take some notes. There might be a bunch of stuff that you are going to have to get rid of, so instead of having to constantly search, you can just search once, and then consult your notes with the next few steps.

While Google is probably the best option for finding info about yourself, you can also use a people search engine. Two popular people search engines that I would recommend are Pipl and PeekYou. Pipl is a paid service, but PeekYou is completely free and can show you a ton of different info. These searches can help you see accounts and other pages that might still be active.

You can also utilize CheckPeople to search for your info. It will provide you with a comprehensive background check style profile for you to look over and consider.

Delete Unused or Old Social Media Accounts

There are about 3.4 billion active social media accounts. That means that almost half of the world has social media. But, does that mean that you should? Well, especially if you are thinking about erasing your digital footprint, getting rid of social media is an extremely important step.

If you have old Facebook or Instagram accounts that you don’t even use, those should be purged first. Then, it might be helpful to consider trimming your social media presence even if you aren’t going to totally delete it. First off, make all of your social media accounts “private” in the security settings. Next, take the time to delete any posts that are old, inappropriate or that leak personal information. Make sure everything appears professional and clean.

Finally, if you really want to truly “be off the grid” or “purge your digital footprint” it might be a good idea to consider getting rid of social media altogether. Obviously, this is the most extreme step, but it might be necessary if you want to totally erase your digital presence.

Request Google Listing Removals

This is a request that you have to make to Google directly. Here’s the problem, Google isn’t required to de-list something for you. So it may take time. It depends on the type of personal information that you are trying to protect. But it’s always worth it to ask. If a web page gets delisted it won’t be able to get many views.

This is a good route to go if something has been posted that is personal like pictures, addresses, or financial information. This will take a good bit of time and effort on your part, but again for bank info or personal medical data, it is totally worth pursuing.

Use a VPN

A VPN or a virtual private network will mask your computer while you browse the web. We leave info every single time we search the web or click on a web page. Google and other search engines save your data and then sell it to the highest bidder. A VPN masks the computer’s data with 256-bit encryption software.

Using a VPN offers privacy and anonymity. If you don’t want to leave any digital footprint, it helps to use a VPN after you have erased everything else on the internet.

Utilize Outside Resources

There are a few paid options that I want to highlight. First of all, Deseat.me is an online option that will automatically request that your accounts are deleted and that you are unsubscribed from emails. However, if you have a ton of junk mail the best option is to just create a second email for junk and spam and keep your main email address clean and business-ready.

Deseat.me is actually a free service, but another option called DeleteMe is a paid service that works for a year. It will search the internet high and low for your information and request deletion of anything it finds.

You can also use a tool like “BrandYourself” to fix what your digital footprint looks like. If you want to change your brand, or how you rank in specific Google searches.

Be Cautious in All Internet Activity

As we have already talked about, multiple times, everything you do is recorded, so when an app or site asks for information like addresses, phone numbers, or email boxes, make sure you are okay with what you are agreeing to. Often we just hit the “confirm” button without even thinking about the consequences of the topic. So next time you are thinking about creating a new account and you are asked for “permissions” to create it, take a second to think about what that actually entails.

Make Sure to Unsubscribe From Everything

Everyone hates a cluttered inbox. Especially when your primary email address is filling up with junk and spam. As I mentioned before, you could just create a second email address and use that for all of the promos and junk mail. Now you could sit and manually unsubscribe at the bottom of all of those emails, which will take you hours and hours of time. Or you could use a system like Unroll.me to check all of the subscriptions that you have obtained over time. It will then allow you to go through and delete the ones you don’t want.

What if I can’t Delete an Account?

There are a couple of options to consider if you want to delete an account. Sometimes, accounts don’t want you to be able to fully delete your information. This makes their numbers look inflated and also serves them other purposes. But you can do two things to get rid of most of the info located on the site.

First off, delete all of the optional information that you have already entered. When there are places you cannot delete, change the info to something that is fake. It can be a name, email address, or phone number. Just get rid of them and enter something that isn’t real. At the end of all this, you can set it up so that there is no way anything links back to you at the end.

Sometimes, emailing or calling the customer support service can help you delete your accounts but there is no guarantee this will work, and if they really want to keep as many accounts as possible there is probably no way you can get them to delete it. In that case, the fake info is the best possible option.

Conclusion

It is almost crazy to think about how much we do and say on the internet. It consumes our lives, and we spend weeks, months, and years on the web. We don’t think about all of the info we are putting into our digital footprint. Pretty soon, people can get a pretty clear picture of who we are as a person just by looking at our social media posts, or where we have browsed (if they have access to this sort of thing).

Disappearing from the internet is a pretty tough task. It will take a considerable amount of time, effort, and even financial power to accomplish this goal. But we can all use a little cutback on the internet. Maybe it’s time that you get rid of the old accounts and clean out your mailbox. Or maybe you actually want to cleanse your whole digital presence. Well, it definitely can be done, just get ready to grind out the necessary steps.

The post How to Remove Yourself from the Internet appeared first on CheckPeople Blog.

Not to mention, privacy settings prevent us from seeing images that might confirm a person’s identity to us. Let’s face it, for privacy’s sake, we are happy that there is some form of settings that we can control. Nobody wants to be stalked on social media. But at the same time, this can make it challenging to locate the account for a parent, child, old friend, or potential lover. You might want to track your children, connect with an old pal, or make sure a date is telling the truth. These are all valid reasons to want to locate someone’s social media page.

Obviously, you can just enter their name into the search bar in the platform. But that might not get the job done. This article assumes that you’ve already tried that and that you are coming for more advanced tips and tricks. So without further adieu, here are just a few sophisticated ways that you can discover someone’s account on one of the larger social media platforms.

Perform a Google Search

Searching for someone on Google is one of the fastest ways to find information about them. Over 70,000, Google Searches happen every minute. Google knows how much their platform is used and ] optimized it to pull tidbits of data from the web. If you want to know more about Google Search Engines, check out this article. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-search-statistics

Searching the web with Google works really well until you have a common name that you need to find. If you type a common name into the search bar, there’s almost no way you discover who you are looking for at all. But, there is a way to search for pictures by using images.google.com and uploading an image in the box.

An image search can be much more successful than a webpage search, but that doesn’t mean it will always get the job done, that’s why we also recommend using our service! CheckPeople is a great way to search the web.

Use CheckPeople’s Features

Performing a quick search with us makes finding a social media account more accessible than ever.

Our site uses top-notch technology to grab info from a variety of places. It is much more thorough and reliable than a Google Search and will provide all of the social media accounts associated with the person you are searching for online. You can also use our site to narrow the search to specific cities which will prevent you from finding 100 people with the same name.

Overall, CheckPeople is one of the best ways to find someone on social media.

Use Other Forms of Social Media

To be honest, this trick isn’t that difficult. But, it can be helpful if used correctly. Open up your facebook account in a separate tab. Then go to your profile page. You will notice that the URL will read something like “facebook.com/yournamehere.” After the slash comes the person’s username. The odds are that this person uses the same username across all forms of social media.

Head on over to Twitter or Instagram, and type that same account name into the search bar. You might find that they have the same username on all sorts of social media.

This does not work all of the time, but it is a helpful tip to know if you can simply locate someone’s Facebook profile.

Phone Numbers

Did you know that you can actually find people on Facebook using their phone number? You can check to see if this setting is turned on for your account by going to “Settings” and then “Privacy” and there is a little box that says “Who can look me up by using the Phone Number provided.” Most likely, it will read “Everyone,” which means anyone can find you by entering your phone number.

A majority of people have not changed this setting. If you know the number of the person you are trying to search, you can quickly locate them by entering it into the search bar. Now it might not work that way if they have Privacy settings turned up. But you can go to “Forgotten Password” and enter it there. Then the name associated with that number will appear.

These are a few simple tricks to finding people’s Facebook accounts if you know their number already.

Use Outside Sites to Find Accounts

There are literally hundreds of sites you can use to try and locate people on various forms of social media. Here are a few to keep in mind:

• Pipl
• Zaba
• SocialSearcher
• Buzzsumo
• PeekYou

These aren’t all-inclusive, and each one has it’s own flaws, but they should be able to get the job done if everything else doesn’t work.

Summing Things Up

There are a bunch of different ways to locate someone’s social media accounts. We recommend that you try each one of these ways. It is almost impossible for someone to stay hidden on social media if you work hard enough to find them.

We recommend that you keep your privacy settings turned up to avoid stalkers, and we certainly don’t encourage using these methods to stalk people. However, using social media to find a loved one or a prospective loved one is a great way to stay safe and encourage an active family community.

If you have found other ways to locate various social media accounts, please leave us a comment below. We would love to hear what you guys thought and how you used these tips to build a more secure presence online.

The post How to Find Someone on Social Media appeared first on CheckPeople Blog.

But search is just the beginning of it. People everywhere use google for almost everything. Photos, videos, event reminders, memos, file storage you name it, and google probably has a service for it. But what if any of that data could be incriminating? What if it was used against you at a later date?

A lot of the data is stored on what appears to be randomly generated URL addresses.

Okay but what does that mean for you? Well… it means that with the right link, just about anyone can access anything. That can be a scary thought.

Does Google Store Information On Me?

The short answer is “of course”. But what that information actually entails is different for each of us. You can assume Google likely has the obvious data points on us. I.e. Name, Gender, Birthday, Phone and Email.

However, you’d probably be pretty shocked to find out what other information Google is storing and tracking:

Your Location

Oh yes. If you think Google isn’t very aware of where you are when you do your searches you’d be very mistaken. It is something that is almost always running in the background of our phones. The pin on Google Maps that denotes where you are on the map, is all available in your location history.

You can turn this feature off on your phone, and disable history.

Search

Of course google tracks and stores your search history. In fact every time you use Google Assistant and use your voice to do a search, not only is that search recorded and tracked, but so is your voice audio. That’s right! Google saves that too! So don’t even think about denying those embarrassing searches.

Internet Shopping

Oh yeah, didn’t we tell you? Most (if not all) worthwhile websites use Google Analytics. Google is very much a part of most websites in the background. So whenever you make a purchase, no matter how personal the purchase is, google is tracking and recording it.

Think about that the next time you’re ordering something naughty. Google won’t forget about it!

YouTube

Did you know Google owns YouTube? That’s right! So everything you watch and subscribe to is only adding to the millions of data points google is collecting about you to build your user profile.

I can think of at least a half a dozen times where I’ve got lost in a YouTube black hole for hours and god knows what I watched! I certainly don’t want that information going public and I am sure you don’t as well.

Photos

Would you be comfortable with just anyone accessing your photos without your knowledge? Even if you didn’t have anything embarrassing or naughty in your photos, some people do, and until now we have all assumed our photos were protected and safe. As it turns out, anyone who has the right link can access just about any stored files on Google.

So basically the only thing that stands between you and your privacy is a very complicated, auto generated URL that any computer with a connection can access if they guess it right.

Gmail

Don’t be silly… of course Google stores your emails. But maybe you didn’t know that it sometimes allows Third-Party-Developers to gain access to your emails if you grant them permission when installing certain apps.

You should start reviewing your apps to see which ones you have given access to your email account to.

How to Monitor Your Online Information

As it turns out there is plenty one can do to keep those in the shadows out of your private information. While Google hasn’t given us much to be concerned about, other companies have not been so lucky, and the truth is Google isn’t immune (no company or provider is).

We hear about data breaches in security all the time when watching the news. We hear terms like “hackers” and “dark web” and “compromised accounts”. Once your information hits the dark web it is pretty much there forever.

Consider a Dark Web Scan from CheckPeople. We will monitor the dark web for signs of your information. If it’s found, you are alerted, so you can begin to take the steps to protect your identity and financial accounts.

The post Google Knows You Very Well appeared first on CheckPeople Blog.

There are a few people out there who are looking for the real thing. Maybe you have met someone new through a dating app, and you’re taking it slow. You have been hurt before, so you don’t want to leave anything to chance. You want to know everything you can about this guy before you take it to the next level.

A little bit of spying and snooping around on your new catch is always fun, but it’s also risky because you might be wrong. You might be the bold type and ask him directly, or maybe you are already too emotionally invested and don’t want to ruin your new relationship because of a bad gut feeling. The bottom line is that you have noticed the red flags and you owe it to yourself to find out.

Here are some ways you can find out if someone is married:

Check Social Media Sites

We all have a friend or two who are skilled social media investigators. You need to call them up and ask for their help in stalking your new love online. For this to work, you will need his username on Facebook or Instagram so you can search for him.

Your friends will probably send him a friend request with a pseudo account so they can have full access to his posts and photos. Before going through all that, however, you can check their relationship status on Facebook. If the person regularly updates their privacy settings, then it will be listed.

When going through their pictures, look out for those that are of your date with a lady and seem to be romantic. Also, check the date of the posting so you can know how recent it was.

Use Google

This requires you to have a lot of time on your hands. You need to have the full name of your date and put in in quotes in the Google search box for more specific results. Google can give you lots of relevant information and also photos that might answer your question.

Search Public Records

What you will be looking for here is something like joint home ownership under his name or anything else that can give you information about his marital status. Searching through public records is time-consuming and tiring and not as fun as searching his social media.

Look Out for Common Signs

Does he always pay cash for your dates? If you answered yes to that question, then the chances are that he is married. The days of walking around with money are gone. Plastic money is what people use nowadays to pay even for the smallest things.

The reason he is not using his credit or debit card might be because he doesn’t want to leave any financial evidence that he was not where he told his wife he would be.

The wedding ring should be the first thing you look out for. If he is married, he will have to remove the ring when he comes to meet you. When the ring is removed, there is usually evidence of a tan line on the ring finger. That should be enough to tell you that he is married.

What are his social habits? Does he always have to be home by a particular time, say 10 o’clock? This is another visible sign that he is married. Single people have schedules but not as strict as married people, especially if they are married with children. Married people can rarely make random plans, and if they do, it’s always during odd hours.

Another thing you should do is pay attention to what he says when you converse. When you ask about how he spent the weekend, what does he say? Married people usually spend their weekends at home with the family doing some general cleaning or family picnic or dinners. A single person will have done more activities outside of family such as club hopping with friends or attending a concert.

It is not advisable to make a conclusion based on the above signs alone. If you are thinking of ending the relationship, you better get more concrete evidence and make an informed decision.

Use People Search Websites

People search websites come in handy in such situations. Numerous sites offer to find information about any person of interest for free. Some will require you pay, but it won’t cost much. If you have the person’s name, location, and phone number, you are good to go. The best way to start your online search is to use CheckPeople’s marriage record search. You will be provided with a full report of all the records associated with the target name. The detailed report will give all of the info you need in an organized and searchable fashion

Log in to your CheckPeople.com account, enter your date’s name in the search box and their location and wait a couple of minutes for the report. You will see on the search results possible relatives of the person you searched. You can then get reports on one of the relatives you suspect to be the spouse.

On the search results page, you will also see social media profiles related to the person. You will also find some profiles with common aliases used by the person. Information on this site is accurate because they search through millions of public records under that name.

Hire a Private Investigator

This is a step you take when you are desperate. You like this guy, and you have not been able to find out anything on your own. Be ready to spend a pretty penny if you decide to go down this road. One thing you can be sure about is that the investigator will find you the information you need.

All you need to do is give him the information you have and let him do the rest. Make sure the private investigator is licensed and bonded.

The post Find Out If Someone Is Married appeared first on CheckPeople Blog.

Finding people is not easy, especially if they don’t want to be found. People can take some extreme measures, such as changing their names, addresses, and deleting their social media accounts. Thankfully today, there are sites like CheckPeople.com which help you to find information about people with a simple search.

The person you are looking for might be an acquaintance or someone you know. Either way, getting information about people today has been made much simpler and faster thanks to the internet and smartphones. Here are some methods you can use to find out where someone works.

Google Search

You can find all kinds of information on Google. When you google a person’s name, you might get many results that are not related to the person you are searching. If you are looking for someone with a name similar to that of a celebrity, then this might be a bit difficult.

Google will work out well if you can search using more specifics, such as a middle name or initial. Even then, the results can still be plentiful. You can add the location of the person’s workplace and see if you get more specific results.

Other google hacks that you can use are adding quotes to the name and hyphens to remove the results that do not relate with your search. For example, if you are looking for John Doe and google gives you results of someone with the same name which is a pastor, you can add a hyphen so it can read John doe -pastor-preacher to remove the pastor from the search results.

Google works exceptionally well if the person you are searching for has an online portfolio or has posted any of their work or projects online. The downside is that you might have a hard time narrowing down the search, especially if a person does not have much of a digital footprint.

Social Media

With sites like LinkedIn, it is easy to find out where someone is currently working. LinkedIn is a social media platform, mainly for professionals. When you sign up for an account on this website, you are required to upload your curriculum vitae and fill in your past and current working experiences.

When you view someone’s profile on LinkedIn, they are notified about it. If you want to be discreet, set your profile to a private viewing mode. This will tell LinkedIn not to send a notification to the person whose profile you are checking out. Other sites like Facebook can also help you find the information that you need.

The first step is to log in to your account and put the name of the person you are looking for in the search box. When you find them, you go to their profile page, and the info you want will be there. On sites like Instagram and Twitter, you can also find out by checking the bios on their profile.

A bio is a short description of yourself. When you click on someone’s profile, the first thing you see below their picture is their bio. Some people put information like their company websites or business contacts on their bio. This should be helpful enough for you to find out where someone works if it doesn’t say exactly.

Also, on Instagram, you can go through the person’s photos checking for any that have been taken at the office or outside a building that might be their workplace. Keep an eye out for any company logo on their attire or on their office desk or even a pen that they might be holding in the photo.

Hiring a Private Investigator

Private investigators are professionals in tracking people down. If you don’t want to go through the trouble of doing it yourself, you can get help from a private investigator. Private investigators cost a lot of money, and some of them work on a retainer. Furthermore, they might need you to pay an hourly rate plus mileage and surveillance.

The overall cost of a private investigator can come up to $800. This can put a big dent in your wallet for such a small do-it-yourself task. Make sure you explore other avenues before settling for this option. Although they are expensive, private investigators are very useful and can find whoever you are looking for in a short time.

Ask Around

If you are looking to confirm information that you were given. You can call the company where the person said they work to verify the information. If you are entirely in the dark, you can try asking people who are in the same business or any mutual friends that you might have.

Also, if the person has affiliation with any professional body or clubs, you can call them and make inquiries. Some clubs and professional organizations may decline to give out personal information of their members for security reasons.

However, they will be happy to take a message and contact the person on your behalf if need be. If your reason may be valid enough, and you visit the club or professional body in person, you may be able to convince them to give you a lead. This does not always happen, but it won’t hurt trying.

This method works well if you know the same people. People can give you small pieces of relevant information that will lead you to find out where someone works eventually.

Public Records

Public records usually contain an individual’s personal information. You can search through government records, court records, and federal bureau databases to find out where someone works. Going through public records can be time consuming and tiresome.

Government databases usually have millions of records that you will have to go through one by one to get what you are seeking. With public records, you can find out a lot more about a person than where they work.

Once you have a company name, connect with the person’s employer, and inquire if they are still working for the company. People often change their jobs, so don’t be surprised if they moved. In such an instance, ask the employer if they know where the person transferred to and follow up from there.

Use a People Search Website

The CheckPeople people search tool will help you get detailed information on a person in a complete report that analyzes thousands of record databases, social media profiles and more.

Once you search for their names, CheckPeople.com will list the reports found under that name. You can then click on get report and view the full document with information on the person you are looking for.

Ever since most of the world moved from having landlines to cell phones, almost everybody can be contacted directly. Most official and unofficial applications require you to fill in your contact details. This means that you can be found through this number. If you only have a phone number, the name is unnecessary.

Sites like CheckPeople.com also have reverse phone lookup services where you put in the person’s phone number and then let the site do the rest. After clicking on search, CheckPeople.com will give you the personal information of the person related to that number including their name, occupation, address, and other info.

While many people can share the same name, it is not likely for people to share the same phone number. Using a phone number while doing your search will get you more specific results. This will save you a lot of time because the search takes minutes and you don’t have to go through the search results trying to sift out the person you are searching.

The information available on sites like checkPeople.com is reliable and accurate since it is derived from public records. The people finder utilizes information such as criminal records, civil records, bankruptcies, phone books listings, traffic reports, arrest reports, and lawsuits.

You might be asking yourself if all this legal. The answer is yes. It might seem like an invasion of privacy, but information such as someone’s workplace is public knowledge, that is why you can find it on public records. Additionally, the methods listed above are all legal so you will not have any issues with the law by using them.

Whether it is for personal or legal reasons, information such as this should not be used to spy on or stalk people or contact them without their consent. On a lighter note, go ahead and surprise your new love at their workplace after using CheckPeople.com.

The post How to Find Out Where Someone Works appeared first on CheckPeople Blog.

Scammers and spammers haven’t stopped trying to work around caller id. They’ve figured out how to call from numbers that look like they are in your area code, so you think it’s someone you might know. They can also show up as: “unknown number,” instead of 10 digits.

There is also a chance that someone that you love is purposely avoiding saving a number into their contacts, so you won’t know who they’re communicating with. If the same mysterious number keeps calling and texting your child, your significant other, or you, there are a few quick ways to uncover who’s behind it.

Google

You can use Google to find just about anything, and phone number associations are included. A quick Google search of a phone number could reveal a person’s name and social media accounts, or a business’s website if they use that phone number to advertise.

If one scammer in particular is targeting a certain area code, there’s a chance people are talking about it in local news or online. That number might already be listed to help warn residents, and should show up on the world’s largest search engine.

Check a Phone Book

You read that correctly—a phone book. But we don’t mean an actual book that gets dropped off on your front step. Nowadays, phone directories are online. You can check www.whitepages.com for listings. Instead of searching someone by their last name, you can simply enter their phone number.

If the number is a landline or a cell phone number, it will likely be listed. If it is a business or a telemarketer, it probably won’t be. Unfortunately, White Pages will only give you the first letter of a person’s first and last name unless you pay for their premium search service. Depending on the carrier, they may also provide the city that the person’s phone plan is associated with.

Social Media

Many people and businesses choose to link their phone numbers with their social media accounts. This can be a simple and free way to identify an unknown caller.

According to Statica, Facebook is the most popular social network worldwide with more than 1.8 billion monthly active users.¹ Users do have the options of keeping their phone number hidden from everyone, or only allowing it to be visible to their friends, but it’s worth a try since there is a good chance the owner of any phone number has a Facebook account. Simply type the 10-digit number into Facebook’s search bar, and see what comes up.

Reverse Phone Lookup Tools

The desire to find out who unknown phone numbers belong to is so common, many developers and business leaders have stepped up to make it possible. There are now several apps and websites specifically designed for reverse phone lookups. They search millions of databases and public records in order to uncover as much information about the people or businesses behind any phone number as possible.

CheckPeople’s reverse phone lookup tool instantly scans more than 6 billion public records. After typing in a landline or cell phone number, we quickly provide you with the associated name, address, social media accounts, and even intimate details such as criminal history, marriage and divorce records, and any lawsuits they may have been involved with.

The CheckPeople team has more than 20 years of experience running internet businesses. We have developed an advanced algorithm that is designed to give you the best, most reliable information you need as quickly as possible. Our database is always being updated, so you can feel confident in your search results.

What If the Number Is Blocked?

Some telemarketers and spammers are able to block their phone number from showing up on your caller id. Instead of numbers, the words “blocked,” or “unknown number” may appear. But you might still be able to identify the number.

In the United States, dialing *82 immediately after receiving a call from a private caller is meant to unblock the number. Dialing *69 may also provide you with the last number that called your phone, and offer to call it back for you. However, we don’t recommend calling an unknown or blocked phone number back. Many massive call campaigns are automated, and an answered call will highlight that your number is still active, indicating that they should continue calling it.

Getting Police Involved

If you ever feel harassed or threatened by an unknown caller, you should let your carrier and police know. Some phone companies offer subscription services that allow you to trace and report callers by dialing *57. Local police officers may also be able to provide insight about a common phone scam spreading in your area, and how best to handle it.

Get on the “Do Not Call” List

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has created a list called the National Do Not Call Registry. It is a free, easy way to reduce telemarketing calls. You can register your phone number at www.donotcall.gov, or call 1-888-382-1222 from the phone number you would like to register. The FTC says you can expect to get fewer telemarketing calls within 31 days of registering your number.

How Did They Get My Number?

According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the most common way for scammers and telemarketers to get your phone number is to buy it from a third-party data provider.² Unfortunately, hundreds of data providers are able to obtain your number from forms you fill out, or phone calls you make to what you thought were secure platforms.

Here are some of the most common ways the BBB says your cell phone number ends up in the wrong hands:

• Calling 800, 888, or 900 numbers. Whenever you dial these numbers, your phone number may be captured by a system called “Automatic Number Identification (ANI).” ANI stores your number, matches it with other lists and address directories, and can then be added to marketers’ directories.

• Contributing to charitable organizations. Many charities hire third-party telemarketing companies to collect their donations. They not only keep a percentage of your donation, they also keep your contact information and sell it to other telemarketers.

• Applying for credit. You have to provide personal information such as your phone number to apply for even small amounts of credit, and that data is continually sold and resold to marketers.

The BBB recommends limiting where you provide your cell phone number, and always reading the fine print on disclosures to find out if companies plan to sell your personal information.

Cell phones have become an incredibly important, prevalent part of our lives. Nobody wants to be disrupted by unwanted phone calls and texts all day, especially now that the alert could show up on your phone, your laptop, and your watch. You have a right to know who is interrupting your day, so you can feel confident in your decision to answer or block any unknown number that tries to reach you.

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