Opt Out of Intelius, TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate

TL;DR: Intelius, TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate and US Search are all owned by PeopleConnect. Its suppression centre at suppression.peopleconnect.us lets you verify your email, enter your date of birth and legal name, pick your record, confirm a code and switch it from "Displayed" to "Suppressed." It takes 15 to 30 minutes. Double-check your date of birth before you submit, because it locks. Worth knowing: in 2023 the FTC said TruthFinder’s and Instant Checkmate’s old "Remove" button only hid items from the person who clicked it. Use the suppression centre, not on-page buttons.

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Why one company matters

Four brands, one owner. According to DuckDuckGo’s TruthFinder guide, PeopleConnect owns TruthFinder, Intelius, US Search and Instant Checkmate, and one suppression request can reduce republishing across those sites. PeopleConnect Holdings also bought Classmates.com in 2015, according to Wikipedia’s Intelius entry. Classmates has its own account system (how to delete it).

Step by step

Optional: find your listing first. TruthFinder’s search is slow. DuckDuckGo suggests a direct URL like truthfinder.com/results?firstName=jane&lastName=doe&state=CA.
Go to suppression.peopleconnect.us/login. Enter your email, accept the terms and continue. Click the verification link in the email.
Enter your date of birth and legal name: first, middle and last. Check the date carefully. Cloaked notes that it locks after submission.
Select your record. If you see several close matches (old addresses, a maiden name), suppress each one that’s you.
Verify your identity with a code sent to a phone number or email you can access.
Switch the record to "Suppressed" under Desired Behavior and save. "Toggling to Suppressed will hide that personal information from public view."

Time and results

About 15 to 30 minutes of work, and processing usually finishes within an hour. Search for yourself on each of the four sites the next day in a private browser window. These sites refresh often, so check back every few months.

Why not just click "Remove" on the report?

Because it may not do what it says. In September 2023 the FTC announced that TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle charges that they:

offered a "Remove" button that only hid an item from the customer who clicked it, while other customers searching for the same person still saw it;
offered a "Flag as Inaccurate" button but never investigated flagged items or changed reports;
sent alerts saying someone had a criminal or arrest record when the record was only a traffic ticket;
advertised "the MOST ACCURATE information available to the public" without verifying third-party data.

The order bans the companies from misrepresenting how accurate their reports are. The lesson is simple: the suppression centre is the tool that hides your record from everyone, so use that.

If a report about you is wrong

These sites say they aren’t for screening jobs or tenants. The FTC alleged that the two brands acted as consumer reporting agencies anyway, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you a right to dispute inaccurate information in a consumer report. If a landlord or employer turned you down because of one of these reports, that’s worth raising. See our guide to how background checks work, and report problems to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

What it doesn’t cover

PeopleConnect’s tool covers its own brands only. You’ll still need separate requests for Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified and the free sites. Our US broker list runs through them in order of impact. Californians can reach every registered broker with one request through the state’s free DROP platform (how DROP works).

A note on handing over your birth date

Yes, you give a data broker your date of birth to stop it showing your data. That’s the system we have. It’s used to match records, and suppression hides rather than deletes. If you live in a state with a privacy law, you may also be able to request deletion; see our state privacy laws guide.

Then check the other side

People-search sites show what’s public. Breaches show what’s leaked. A free email exposure check covers the second part in about 30 seconds.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which sites does the PeopleConnect suppression centre cover?

PeopleConnect owns TruthFinder, Intelius, US Search and Instant Checkmate, and its tool can reduce republishing across them.

What is the PeopleConnect suppression URL?

suppression.peopleconnect.us/login

Does the "Remove" button on a TruthFinder report remove me?

In 2023 the FTC said the old Remove button only hid items from the customer who clicked it. Use the suppression centre instead.

Does suppression delete my data?

It hides your record from public view. Deletion may be available under some state privacy laws.

How long does it take?

About 15 to 30 minutes to complete, with processing typically within an hour.

One Opt-Out, Four Sites: Removing Yourself From Intelius, TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate and US Search