Free Data Exposure Scan: Find Your Leaked Personal Data

Your personal data is up for sale. When it falls into the wrong hands, you can be the target of spam and scams, or worse, be at a greater risk of identity theft. Some data brokers share your information publicly online, so anyone can see your age, address, and family relatives.

Incogni's free data exposure scan uses your basic information to identify sites that expose your sensitive data. Once you know who has your information, you can take proactive steps to remove your data from the internet.

If you don’t want to use an automated data removal service, we cover how to get started manually requesting removals.

How to use a personal data checker (step-by-step guide)

A personal data checker can look for your exposed identity on various sites. The data checker discovers if your personal information is exposed on the internet.

Here's a step-by-step guide to conducting a data exposure scan:

1. Input your personal information

It can seem counterintuitive to share your private data with a personal data checker. Aren't you trying to avoid sharing your personal information in the first place? But it's necessary to have this information to look for exposures.

You should verify that the data checker is authentic and reliable. Incogni's free data exposure scan has a transparent privacy policy that states it doesn't sell your personal information. A recent independent audit from Deloitte also confirms Incogni didn't sell personal data in the year 2024.[1]

For Incogni's free data exposure scan, you'll need to share the following details:

• City and state of residence
• Full name
• Email address

Input your details and click Get started to start the process.

2. Incogni checks if your personal data leaked

Incogni’s free data checker can scan public sources, including public data brokers, public records, and people search sites, to determine whether your personal details are exposed.

Since there are hundreds of sources, it may take some time for the results to get emailed to you. The process can take up to an hour, but we received our results within minutes.

3. Get an initial data exposure report

Once Incogni has finished the data exposure scan, it will email you a report. The data exposure report lists which data broker sites contain your personal information and categorizes each site by risk level — low, medium, or high — based on how your data might be used or exposed.

The report also shares other information that could be exposed, such as your age, family relationships, and where you have lived.

4. Consider your options: manual or automated

Now that you know who has your data, you can start the process of removing your information from the internet. There are two ways to do this:

Manual: Submit removal requests yourself. This step can take time, especially if many sites have your data. Not all sites are timely, and it may take some follow-up and patience to get your data removed.

Automated: Invest in a data broker removal service to work on your behalf. Data removal services will remove your information from sites. It requires minimal to no effort on your end.

5. DIY: submit manual requests

Each site will have a slightly different process for requesting data removal. In general, you'll want to follow these steps to remove your data:

1. Find the opt-out form. There may be a link in the footer (at the bottom of the website) labeled "Do not sell or share my personal information" or similar.
2. Enter the personal information you want deleted. This may include your full name, state of residence, and email address.
3. You may receive an email to verify your identity.
4. You'll receive an email to confirm that your request is being processed.
5. You'll receive another email to confirm that your data was deleted.

The entire process may take several days. For example, FastBackgroundCheck estimates that processing a data deletion request may take up to 3 days.

Manually removing your data is often not a one-and-done deal. You may find that some sites will add your information again. You'll need a regular routine to run a data exposure scan and, if needed, complete another data removal request.

6. Get help removing sensitive personal data from online

Data removal services can work with sites to remove your personal information. They will verify that it's deleted after the request is submitted.

Data removal services also run routine scans for data exposure. If your personal information appears again, they will automatically submit another removal request. It works 24/7 to protect your identity from appearing online.

How do free data exposure scans work?

A free data exposure scan uses your basic identity information to find your personal data online. Public data brokers are all scanned to discover if they have your personally identifiable information.

Paid data exposure scans are similar, but they scan both public and private data brokers. It may also include data removal services to ensure your private data stays off the internet.

For instance, Incogni sends removal requests to public data brokers (such as people search sites) every 60 days and to private data brokers every 90 days.

What is personal data?

Personal data is information that personally identifies you. Some examples of personal data that are collected by data brokers include:

• Contact details: Email address, phone number, and address.
• Basic information: Social Security number, birth date, gender, and age.
• Financial data: Credit score, purchase history, payment methods, income, loyalty program data, and mortgage.
• Demographics and household data: Marital status, number of children, names of adult relatives, education level, and property/car ownership.
• Personal preferences or sensitive data: Political views, health information, hobbies, and interests.
• Online behavior: Websites visited, search history, ad interaction, and real-time location data.

What happens if your data is exposed?

Exposed data means people have unauthorized access to your personal or sensitive information. Data brokers have created a detailed digital footprint of your identity. Your digital footprint contains your contact details, financial information, web and location history, and other sensitive data.

If there's a data breach, it can fuel identity theft, spam messages, stalking, and scams. The long-term consequences can lead to credit damage and emotional distress.

Guides for personal data removal

Removing personal data can be tedious, but it can help you retain your privacy. Here are a few guides to help you remove your data from popular data broker sites:

• FastPeopleSearch
• Intelius
• LexisNexis
• Nuwber
• True People Search
• Whitepages

Incogni has a large database of DIY opt-out guides. It's worth checking it out if you are manually requesting data removal.

Bottom line

Using a personal data checker is the first step toward data privacy. Incogni's free data exposure scan can discover which public data brokers have your information. You'll receive a report with the brokers listed by risk.

From there, you can manually submit data removal requests to sites with your personal information. For an automated service, you can use a data removal service like Incogni. It will continuously scan the internet for your private data and submit suppression and removal requests.

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