Spokeo review: deceptive advertising and ripoff 73

i also was scammed.still doing some investigation on this company, first i must say it was awesome at first, cause it found all sites that i used to go to, and i lost user names and all that, but it found every site i ever registered with, scary, um yeah, but thats not the worst of it..after being on the site for a little bit, of course after paying the money.site was working great until i logged off, and went to log back in and it would not let me, so i thought mm maybe i forgot my pass word, and so i put my email addy so they can reset my password, well guess what? you guessed it, it said invalid email, to make matters worse they have 2 different phone numbers one located in pasadina california and another in mountain view, and of course i called both, and guess what? Yep you guessed it again..got there voice mail..so i would not be dealing with this company

i wanted to update my complaint.. well i finally was able to get ahold of someone at there office and they did fix the preoblem, but it took about a week for them to get ahold of me..so i must say after emails after emails they finally got ahold of me.and as far as the searching goes, i would say that its an invasion of privacy..big time..they do charge automatically every year, so be aware of this, and you have to contact them..good luck getting ahold of someone...

I agree, this company is a big scam and an invasion of privacy. If you watch on youTube or other sites the founder almost slipped twice saying that it displays people personal information and data. Some other sites are also cooperating with them ! Like Amazon, Google and others. My information was set to private on most of them sites I subscribed to yet Spokeo found a way to get hold of it. Consequence I am permanently deleting my email and I know how I am going to get back to these guys.

I always make it a point to check out complaintsboard before making any kind of online purchase, especially with a newer company - and I must say I got scared reading the comments. But just last month, girlfriend needed to look up a few email addresses, so we decided to just bite the bullet and try Spokeo out. Wow is all I can say. It found tons of stuff. I actually used it take down some of my old photos...

Also, we made it a point to cancel our account right away because we didn't want to get charged again. Was pretty easy actually. I've had it much worse with companies like Prepaid Legal. Man, those dudes were horrible...

how can I BLOCK these reverse internet search copmpanies from invading my privacy?

YESSSSS! THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME! I WAS A VICTIM OF CREDIT CARD FRAUD AND WHEN LOOKING UP THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PERSON THAT STOLE MY IDENTITY--SPOKEO.COM POPPED UP AND OFFERED TO GIVE ME ALL TYPES OF INFORMATION BASED ON THAT PERSONS EMAIL ADDRESS FOR $1.99. UPON THINKING THAT WAS A GREAT DEAL TO FIND SOMEONE THAT JUST CHARGED THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON MY CREDIT CARD-- I GLADLY ACCEPTED! I DID NOT REALIZE I WAS SCAMMED UNTIL I FOUND THE CHARGE FOR $36 ON MY CREDIT CARD! THIS COMPANY IS A TERRIBLE SCAM AND I JUST HOPE OTHER PEOPLE ARE NOT BEING SCAMMED BY THEM! I HAVE ALREADY LOOKED INTO THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU IN SANTA MONICA CALIFORNIA WHERE THIS SCAM OF A COMPANY IS BASED TO FILE A COMPLAINT! I WOULD TAKE THEM TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT ON PRINCIPE--BUT THE AMOUNT JUST ISN'T WORTH IT! BETTER TO GET THE WORD ABOUT THIS OUT!

I almost signed up but thought I had better check them for complaints first...thanks for your comments and I will pass the word around

I did not sign up for this site and I find it appalling that even though I am not a member (I would hate to see what would happen it you were a member!) they still have too much personal information on me and as a woman who lives alone this is VERY DANGEROUS to me and my daughter who lives with me! I feel violated and I really want to know how to get them to delete my information off of their site? I sent an e-mail to the "contact" information on the bottom threatening to SUE if anything happens to me as a result of having everything about ME hanging out there for any predator, thief, rapist or stalker to read about! Does anyone have any ideas? I never agreed to this information being there for anyone to get a hold of and I resent this invasion of my privacy like you can't imagine! HELP!

My husband and I just found out about this HORRIBLE site Spokeo.com, from our daughter. We were appalled also to think so much of our info. is being furnished to anyone who looks up our name. We also were wondering as we removed ourselves (supposedly) from there site, why they needed to send a removal request to our email address?
So for those who would like to remove themselves (we think) from Spokeo, go to the site, type in your name, select enter, select your name from the list on the left, copy the URL address ( alpha- numeric string that begins with http located at the top of the browser page) open a new browser window, go to spokeo.com, select Privacy (at the bottom of the page) submit your URL address, email address? and HV code. Then open a new browser, go to your email, open the email sent to you by spokeo, select the link provided to delete. Make sure you go back to the link spokeo, type in your name to make sure it has been deleted.
What a crock of ### to have to go through this. I couldn't believe the picture of our house was taken from accross the street. It even showed my truck in the driveway. I agree with "invasion of privacy", what has happened to our constitutional rights?
So we are wondering how long before our information becomes available again.

I agree 100%. This site is dangerous. I am a professional and deal with the public. I have gone to great lengths to have an unlisted phone number, caller ID block, etc. I have post nothing on the internet that gives out my personal info. What a surprise when my brother who is in law enforcement, told me about Spokeo and that I needed to go online and have my name removed from their site.
When I entered my name and location on Spokeo, I was appalled to find my spouses full name, my address with a Google picture of my house, the worth of my house (incorrect) and other personal info readily available for anyone to find.
The only thing missing was a key to the front door.
None of this info was posted by me on the internet. It must be available through county and state records (real estate transactions, etc)
As per RCBJLP, you have to go through several steps and give out your email address to have your name removed. (as far as I could tell, you could perform the removal without confirmation that you were in fact the person being removed.
To all of the lawyers on this board, if anyone believes this warrants a class action suit, let me know. At the least, when harm comes to those posted without their consent on the site (robbery or worse) are they eligible to sue Spokeo?

I just found this site out through a friend, I looked up my name, and also my wife's name it had our address, and everythign else, but the worst part was when you enter your email address, and all your pics come up with it, it has my kids pictures and they are underage, and we gave no consent for these pictures to be posted so some perv can come on this site to see where we live and to watch us and to kidnap my kids, im ready for a lawsuit this is my life not there's.. please let me know, i would put my email adress on here but someone might just take that as well. But i will give you another email that i get junk for, alkamist@live.com, this is totally uncalled for.

I was told about this site and the morning after when I left for work, I got a call frantic phone call from my 13 year old niece (who lives with my husband, daughter and I) because "2 men are in the house!" She called 911 and it was determined that these 2 men were looking at my "page" on this website the night before the crime. My TWO YEAR OLD daughter AND my 13 year old niece had pictures of themselves on the page. I have NO idea how you people got their pictures but I am SERIOUSLY considering pressing charges.

What Spokeo is doing is extremely dangerous.

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998
http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/coppa1.htm

SPOKEO only shows YOU put and made readily available on the internet. They in no way invade your privacy, the goal is to show you what YOU'VE put on the internet so you can take it down. Anyone with a little knowledge of Google-Fu can find all the information Spokeo shows you.

Again, YOU are the one who posted YOUR personal information on the internet. Use Spokeo to take it down, like I did...

Happy88. You are WRONG. I have not posted my address anywhere on the web. This info is available from government sites. Here is a clip from the Privacy information of one of these search sites:
"Public records are available from the official public records custodian or repository to anyone who requests them. In order for any database of public records to be useful, the databases must contain all of the information in the public records offices. If you have a compelling privacy or security issue, you may wish to contact the official custodians of those public records that contain sensitive information about you, such as your county's land records office, to determine how to remove your information from the public record. (The process of having public records sealed typically requires a court order.) This process will ensure that the information is not available to the public, to us, or to any other public records information provider.
In addition to public records, personal information may be publicly or commercially available. Publicly available information consists of online and offline information that is generally available but is not maintained by a government agency, such as names, addresses and telephone numbers of individuals and businesses, professional licensing and trade organization information, press releases and newspaper articles and content from blogs or social networking sites. Commercial records consist of information that is maintained by enterprises and is available for purchase, such as marketing and telemarketing lists, phone connect and disconnect information, and business profile data."

As you can see, it is not easy to have this information removed from the Government sites. The problem I have with Spokeo is how easy they make it to access a person's address and personal data without having to pay any fee or go through multiple steps to obtain this privileged information. As noted, they give you the address and link directly to a Google picture of the house. One can obtain this knowledge without identifying themselves.

Of course, if someone if motivated enough, they can find this info elsewhere, just not that easily or anonymously.

Happy 88 - thats not true. I don't put my credit score up, I don't put how many people in my house, nor did I put ANY FINANCIAL information, and I DEFINITELY don't put my SSN UP ON THE NET!

********READ THE FINE PRINT! IF YOU ATTEMPT TO DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT WITH THEM, IT ONLY DELETES YOUR PUBLIC PROFILE, ALL YOU INFO IS STILL AVAILABLE TO A PAID SUBSCRIBER!*********

http://celebrifi.com/gossip/Spokeo-Website-Invasion-of-Privacy-2075139.html

Shouldn't we get the money for letting them access our information? Where does this Spokeo get off receiving money to give out our information, then trying to get money from us to delete our information. Of course how many other websites, that we aren't aware of, have our infomation. This is an infringement on our rights. I think a class action lawsuite needs to be brought to Spokeo as well as any other site that gives out any type of personal information without our full consent or without us being able to block certain information with security measures.

Spokeo is sweet! I just found a bunch of stuff on my ex, and my old boss.

I don't really care if people want to know my credit score. It's 719.

They compile this information in one place and although I have my facebook and myspace accounts set as private they still have pictures of my children on here! I also don't advertise the number of people in my house or our income or home value. This information is able to be found by people who are motivated by looking in multiple places on the internet however this is a site where everything is in one place and people could use it for malicious purposes. They will remove requests supposedly for names to be deleted but not email addresses. Most people can't look up my email and get my address and phone number.

If you've got a credit fraud claim against them, or if they're posting pics of your kids, or if you're being harassed or stalked or blackmailed by people viewing your results, call the local police in Pasadena, where Spokeo Inc. is based: http://ww2.cityofpasadena.net/police/contactUs.asp (You might note that the chief of police's home phone number and address are available on Spokeo. As are his wife's or daughter's. And the mayor's.)

You should also report any internet harassment to the local office of the FBI: http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm

Even if you're not being harassed, stalked, blackmailed, or bullied (yet), you can still file a complaint with the California Office of Privacy Protection: http://www.privacy.ca.gov/contact_us.htm

And with the FTC: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

And, if you've got photos showing up on the site, e-mail abuse@dyndns.com to complain about the copyright infringement. (dyndns.com is the ISP, so they should want to investigate claims that somebody using their network is infringing your copyrights.)

Also contact Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=privacy_settings_feedback to let them know that Spokeo has been harvesting personal data from Facebook, in blatant violation of Facebook's policies.

You can also click the little "Block / Report Person" link on the CEO's own personal facebook page, and ask facebook to ban him from the site for selling your info on the internet for profit. That's over here: http://www.facebook.com/man4prez

You can do the same thing on Friendster, at http://profiles.friendster.com/thedoodinthedood, by scrolling all the way down to the bottom of the page and clicking the "Report" link (which has an option to report people for using your photos or harassing you).

And you can click the "Report Abuse" link at the bottom of his myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/139118283

Spokeo is a complete scam. If they have no information on an email address, they will fraudulently use your own geo-ip location to lie and say that the person you're requesting information on is in your city. Then they will sell you a "full report" with NO INFORMATION... since they did not have any to begin with. I have reported them to the FBI's Cyber / Internet Crimes division. I recommend you ALL do the same. http://www.fbi.gov

I am going to be contacting all of the websites that i ave signed up to asking them why they have shared my information with other comanies. Whenever i sign up to a page i always ALWAYS tick ot untick the box that says i DO NOT want my information shared with 3rd party companies, the same goes for any forms i fill in.

Once i have contacted them all and got their reason in writing i will be contacting my solicitor, i am taking these people to court, they have broken soooooo many laws by putting my information on this page, any good solicitor will be happy to take this up for free. I will let you now how i get on!

I have been investigating spokeo for about two weeks.First off, they are full of ###. they say they get their info from public data bases, but whatever.Myspace is the only site i ever had my picture on, so i know for a fact that they got it from them. so what im saying is, what the ### did i even check the privacy box for? and just for the record, sharing your personal info with certain websites does not give spokeo or any other right to sell my personal data without my permission. im not a criminal, so my life is my private matter, and spokeo offers money for my information? whats next? craigs list selling my identity?

Their subscription is done in a one-time payment, not monthly. Personally, I prefer this method, as I don't like surprises withdrawn from my bank accounts every month. They offer a minimum of a three-month bundle, which is a good deal still considering you can look up a greater number of accounts over this period. They offer multiple disclaimers, like many websites do, regarding their price. The problem is that people don't really read disclaimers before they click, and immediately get angry because they are being charged for something they have already agreed to. I suggest that people be more careful about how they choose to spend their money online. Moreover, it makes sense that they don't issue refunds immediately since they are providing a service, not a good - once you've gotten your paid information, does it seem right to demand your money back? A buddy of mine signed up in error and reported it to their customer service, and they referred him to their Dispute Resolution Team who checked his account and resolved the issue by issuing a refund. So, they do take your inquiries seriously, and in my experience, they are doing what a legitimate business providing a service would. TM.

spokeo.com i am surprised should have a lot more consumer issues or complaints by unhappy users. I am of course unhappy member of spokeo.com website and want my money refunded. I made request for a refund on my spokeo.com account very soon after joining. Another person posted the email address Dispute@spokeo.com as this company is VERY VERY DECEPTIVE in that its hard to get information on REFUND PROCEDURE. My complaint lodge against this company is that they use DECEPTIVE CONDUCT into thinking their service is as good as it sounds. The service is no better than http://www.pipl.com for instance which is free. I felt really ripped off. The telephone search is in America, i have to grant access using my user name and password for a friends search (for that part) which i am uncomfortable about giving. The biggest issue is i paid for a 3 month membership and there IS A LIMITATION on the number of searches that can be performed on the premium spokeo.com account. THIS IS A SCAM. They do not ANYWHERE DISCLOSE anything about having a limitation on the number of searches you can do and 20 email address searches in a 3 month period is a JOKE. This service is downright deceptive especially my last point. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY if they will have deceptive practices like that.

I visited the Speakeo.com website, and at the time saw I could subscribe monthly for $4.95 a month. So I did and then 2 weeks later saw they charged my credit card for $59.40, a full year.

I complainted to them it was deceptive advertising and requested a refund. They replied "no refunds", that's our policy. They ripped me off! I strongly recommend no consumers use their service based on how they operate as a company.

I'M REALLY UPSET WITH SPOKEO. DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO GET YOUR INFORMATION OFF THEIR DATA BASE. THEY ARE NOW PUTTING UP PICTURES AND VEHICLES WITH DRIVER'S LISCENSE'S AS WELL. THIS IS NOT RIGHT. WHO CAN PUT ME IN THE PROPER DIRECTION TO STOP THIS WITH THEM. DON'T THEY HAVE A PHONE NUMBER?
WHAT IF SOMEONE IS A VICTIM OF ABUSE/WHAT ABOUT PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR INFORMATION/WHAT GIVES THEM THE RIGHT TO PUT ALL OUR STUFF OUT THEIR.

identity theft is a common crime with websites like this
report them to ic3.gov, send ALL info they use on u, most people use a P.I. to collect info on someone if they need court procedures, this company along with others, throws what ever info is out there putting your life at risk!

Oh and they are located in Passadena California, you can look up too see if they have a business license by going to the Business license search of the California State by going here http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/ and look up their business license, the file your complaints with all authorities, if they choose too ignore it then they just contradicted all their laws claiming too protect you.
its a shame we are all ranked in as criminals because of other psychotic people and their issues, no wonder this world is so messed up. Abuse of power at its finest, this is sooo WRONG!

Entity Name: SPOKEO, INC.
Entity Number: C2789488
Date Filed: 04/11/2006
Status: ACTIVE
Jurisdiction: DELAWARE
Entity Address: 556 S FAIR OAKS AVE STE 101-179
Entity City, State, Zip: PASADENA CA 91105
Agent for Service of Process: C T CORPORATION SYSTEM
Agent Address: 818 W SEVENTH ST
Agent City, State, Zip: LOS ANGELES CA 90017
See how they like it!

Great post, thanks for sharing.
Although Spokeo claims their mission is to "help people find and connect with others" it seems like their goal is to allow you to peek into the private lives of others- which can only be done by paying them for the info. Even more interesting is the original home page of Spokeo.com, which clearly displays the twisted ulterior motives behind the site:
http://blog.hudsonhorizons.com/Article/Is-Spokeo-a-Scam-How-to-Delete-your-Personal-Info-from-Spokeocom.htm

After you initially find the person you are looking for, you are directed to "join" for more detailed information. I am usually very good at checking out complaints about sites before committing any money, but this was a heart-string think - I was attempting to find my son who disappearance 10 years ago.

Needless to say, the name came up with a city I knew he HAD lived in, but when I "joined" for more information - you guessed it - there was not one more piece of information. Under family - it list he had a mother and father - DUH!?

I entered my other son's PREVIOUS city of residence, and up came all of his information, very accurate - as if he still lived there. Unfortunately, he now lives 2000 miles away - but you would never know it from his profile.

I then entered my deceased husband's name (he passed away 10 years ago) and got all the pertinent information as if he was alive and well living very well in an expensive home. Must be nice, I had to really downsize when he died. Guess their information isn't quite up-to-date.

At least I already know where that son is living so it isn't a big deal to me - but certainly won't help anyone else who might be looking for him (maybe a good thing).

At least I only took the 3-mo. $14.95 plan - so I could have lost more. Thanks to the gentleman on a complaint site instructing how to REMOVE yourself or anyone else from the records. I guess it helps a lot to look for someone who has taken their own profile off the list. I took all SEVEN of mine off.

I found much more information about my son from the WHITE PAGES than I did from Spokeo. Really a rip-off. Like I said, more of an emotional impulse than well thought out decision. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY ON SPOKEO. I learned another lesson in cybelife - think with your head - check out sites wanting $$$ - look for complains - BEFORE to commit to ANYTHING. As we most sites, the print you NEED is REALLY small.

One more complain to the iist. Thanks for reading; I hope it helps at least one person.

Joined, run searches on well-known to me people - to check if data are correct. got bogus results for 9 out of 10 people. canceled. how can I get my money back?

Dear Steven,

I'm sorry to hear that our service did not meet your expectations. Spokeo showcases the power of information aggregation, as the data is gathered from a multitude of different sources, such as social networks, public records, phone listings, marketing surveys and more. We also organize the information so that it makes sense for you, as a user. However, machine aggregation has its limits. Since there is no human involved, the data is not verified and might not be accurate. Moreover, many sources do not refresh their data often. Our Terms of Use states clearly that we are a Search Engine, and do not create, maintain or modify any of the information you see. For this reason, we cannot guarantee full or accurate information for every name, phone number, email address or username you search for, as the results vary so much from person to person. We are only as good as our sources, and our engineers are working hard on new algorithms to improve our data accuracy. I do apologize again for the inconvenience.

We would be more than happy to assist you through the refund process, you can simply contact us through our contact page. I have also privately messaged you with further details.

Sincerely,
Spokeo

Spokeo is a complete fraud. I have been receiving someone else's email and when I tried to track them down vis Spokeo I was informed the information was available, but that I needed to subscribe to retrieve the data. I had used the service once in the past - and cancelled it because it was as useless then as it was now - but logged in with my old account info since my I'm still active until the subscription expires. Same results - zarro - ### service that ought to be ashamed of itself. Buyer beware. What really makes me laugh is that Spokeo is advertising on this website, though I suspect it's via re-targeted ad serving. So not only is their service a sham, their marketing tactics are equally as lame.

Dear Spokeo User,
I'm sorry to hear that our service did not meet your expectations. Spokeo showcases the power of information aggregation, as the data is gathered from a multitude of different sources, such as social networks, public records, phone listings, marketing surveys and more. We also organize the information so that it makes sense for you, as a user. However, machine aggregation has its limits. Since there is no human involved, the data is not verified and might not be accurate. Moreover, many sources do not refresh their data often. Our Terms of Use states clearly that we are a Search Engine, and do not create, maintain or modify any of the information you see. For this reason, we cannot guarantee full or accurate information for every name, phone number, email address or username you search for, as the results vary so much from person to person. We are only as good as our sources, and our engineers are working hard on new algorithms to improve our data accuracy. I do apologize again for the inconvenience.
Please contact our support team at support@spokeo.com with mention of this complaint, and our representatives will be happy to resolve any issues you may have.
Sincerely,
Spokeo

Has been taking money from me since October, 2013 without prior, proper authorization.

Billing for "people searching" was done twice, $14.95 on 8/12/14 and $19.95 on 8/20/14 without explanation. The only return e-mail was form letters which didn't explain anything. I want answers...Don Wallace

I opted for spokeo free trial. Mistakenly i did a wrong transaction. They deducted money from my accnt. I want my money back as i m nt using it. Their contct no r also unreachable.