Data brokers are companies that collect and sell your personal information, and auditing these sites is an essential step in anyone's digital footprint analysis, especially if you are conducting it for the first time.
Instant Checkmate is a subscription based background check service that pulls together all information relevant to you (criminal records, arrest histories, contact information, address histories, and social media identities) into one comprehensive report. And anyone can access it within seconds if they have the subscription.
Instant Checkmate is owned by PeopleConnect, the parent company of TruthFinder, Intelius and US Search. As of 2023 all removals for all PeopleConnect brands are administered from a single Suppression Center, so a single successful opt-out can be applied to multiple sister sites. This is precisely how to do it.
What information does Instant Checkmate publish about you?
- Criminal and traffic records, arrest data
- Court records, liens and judgments
- Full address history and phone numbers
- Email addresses and social media accounts
- Relatives, associates and neighbors
- Licenses, permits and property records
Skip the manual work
Don’t want to fill out forms and answer verification calls? AntiBridge removes your data from Instant Checkmate and 150+ other brokers automatically.
Start automatic removalHow to opt out of Instant Checkmate: step by step
1Open the PeopleConnect Suppression Center
Visit suppression.peopleconnect.us (also accessible from the "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" link in the footer of Instant Checkmate). This one-stop shop administers removals from Instant Checkmate, TruthFinder, Intelius and US Search.
2Verify your email address
Provide your email address and date of birth, followed by clicking the verification link that will come to you via email from the portal. Providing an email address is required: it ties the suppression request to a real, verified person.
3Find and select your record
After you do a search by your first and last name and state, click on the record that appears. You are now viewing the record PeopleConnect has in their database that corresponds to you. Choose the right one (paying close attention to the date of birth and city of residence – common names will generate several hits).
4Choose "Suppress" for your record
Select the suppression option (opt out of public display) on the record page. You can also decide what happens to new records. Turn it on so that any new data associated with you is automatically suppressed, across all PeopleConnect sites.
5Confirm removal after 48 hours
PeopleConnect indicates removals will be reflected within 48 hours; give it a couple of days and then go to instantcheckmate.com and search for yourself and see if the report is still showing. Copy and hold on to the confirmation email, in the event the record is later posted again.
Quick reference
| Site | Opt-out method | Removal time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| instantcheckmate.com | Suppression Center + email verification | Up to 48 hours | Free |
What happens after you opt out
The Suppression Center's "future records" feature makes PeopleConnect one of the best-behaved data brokers. It's only available for PeopleConnect brands, though. The same criminal-record and public-record data streams that Instant Checkmate buys are sold to dozens of other unrelated background check sites.
Of course, if your intention is to get (all of ) your online background information entirely out of the internet, then you will need to perform this exercise for each one of the brokerages that possess it, or have an automated removal service perform the entire list for you on a monthly basis.
Tired of opting out one site at a time?
Data brokers make it easy for scammers, stalkers, and identity thieves to find you. Removing yourself from 150+ sites manually takes weeks – and your information can reappear. AntiBridge handles the removals for you and keeps watch so your privacy stays protected.
Remove my info automaticallyFrequently asked questions
Is the Instant Checkmate opt-out free?
Yes. PeopleConnect Suppression Center is free of charge, and you may suppress as many of your records as you want.
Does this also remove me from TruthFinder and Intelius?
Yes. PeopleConnect owns all four of the sites, Instant Checkmate, TruthFinder, Intelius and US Search and they are all on the same suppression system. If there is one verified request, it accounts for all of the sites.
Why do I need to give my date of birth and email?
They're used by the Suppression Center to cross-reference you with the correct records, and to stop people from suppressing someone's report by a different name. The data is stored for the suppression request, not for marketing.
Can my report come back after suppression?
If you set your toggle to suppress future records, any new PeopleConnect records will be suppressed. Nonetheless, the background public database records will still be in place and can still be accessed through the other background-check sites that probably exist for a broker ecosystem.
