Personal information on True People Search easily removed

Website lists age, addresses, other information

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – There's a free website called True People Search that allows users to search for people using just a first and last name.

Nicole Miller had never heard of the site, but it knew all about her.

"My age, where I live, my address," Miller said. "Oh my God."

Think of it as one-stop shopping for personal information.

Anyone can find almost everything about a person on this website, from a cellphone number to where someone lives -- even where a relative lives. It's all perfectly legal, but there is a way to get someone's information off the site.

The information on the site is mostly public record. Often it is what others have shared with social media sites or other businesses.

The website claims the goal is to make finding lost friends and family as easy as possible, but some people said aggregating all this public information in one place makes it a little too public.

Gina Castellanos Pelaez found more than she wanted to about herself on the website.

"My maiden name and then my married name and then my ex-married name, so maybe a little more information than I would like to admit," she said.  

She also found her daughter's information.

She said in this digital age she's not surprised by how much information is out there, but she does want to know who's looking at these sites and why.


"Why? Why would anybody want this information? What can be done with it?" Castellanos Pelaez said. 

Anyone can remove the information from the website.

Just click on the privacy tab at the bottom of the screen. From there, hit record removal requests and follow the instructions.

This isn't the only site sharing personal information. The website Family Tree now shares the same details.

"To keep track of how much of your information is out there is a job that I don't think any one person cares to take on," Castellanos Pelaez said.

The good news is once you remove your information from the website, the process typically takes just a few hours.

One way to protect your information is to opt out whenever possible of allowing businesses and banks to share your information with third parties.

Local 10 News contacted the website to ask about privacy concerns, but so far has not heard back.