OKCaller is a Florida-based phone number search website that claims it provides "useful analytics to help individuals better understand their new and existing contacts.”
The information found in the website’s search results includes the names of phone number owners. The service also collects information when users order or register on their site. You may be asked to enter your name, e-mail address, mailing address, phone number, or credit card information. Users are allowed to use the site anonymously.
OKCaller does not charge a fee for its services.
Phone number search, people-search, and data broker websites are totally legal and can be used to determine who owns the number that’s been calling you, or help you find friends, family, and classmates. However, websites like these can also be used by less than honorable types who are looking to stalk someone, track down exes, or gather information that could be used for identity theft and other nefarious schemes.
Happily, it is possible to get your personal information erased from OKCaller and similar websites. In this article, I’ll lead you through the steps of manually removing your personal data from OKCaller. I’ll also tell you about an easier way to get your personal information removed from OKCaller and similar websites.
Why should I opt out of OKCaller?
Websites like OKCaller make a good amount of your personal information available to anyone who performs a search. While people-search and data broker websites like these are legal, many people do not know just how much of their personal data is available on these websites.
Why would anyone need access to your personal data? While phone number and people-search websites like OKCaller can be used to determine phone number owners, and find friends, family, and classmates for totally honorable reasons, the websites could also be used by bad actors to gather personal information that could be used for identity theft.
ProPrivacy strongly recommends that its U.S. readers immediately opt out of having their personal information stored and shared by OKCaller and other similar websites. Our readers are also strongly recommended to remove their personal information from the hundreds of other phone number search sites, people-search sites, and data brokers.
How to opt out of OKCaller
It’s relatively easy to opt out of having your personal information shared by OKCaller and other websites of this type. However, there are hundreds of websites like OKCaller that likely have your information stored on their servers.
You should also keep in mind that your information could be filed under multiple email addresses, variations of your name (for example, "Sam,” "Sammy,” or "Samuel” or filed under your maiden name), as well as previous postal addresses and phone numbers.
Visiting hundreds of websites to track down and delete all of your records under multiple searches can be quite time-consuming. But you have all the time in the world, right?
To manually remove your personal information from OKCaller, do the following:
1. Start by visiting the OKCaller website.
2. Create an account.
3. Once you’ve created your account, go to your personal dashboard and enter the phone number and address you want to have removed.
4. On the next page, scroll down the page until you find a section labeled "Edit Your Listing”. Click either "SMS Pin” if you wish a code to be texted to your device, or "Call me” to be phoned with a code. We’ll click "SMS Pin.”
5. On the next screen, click "Send PIN” and when the text with the PIN arrives, enter the PIN in the provided field. Enter "UNKNOWN” in the "Caller ID” field, then click "Update.”
6. Now, if anyone searches for the phone number, they will see the owner as "UNKNOWN.”
I recommend scheduling a reminder every few months to return to the OKCaller website and make a search, simply to ensure that your data has not returned to the website.
How to remove yourself from other people-search sites
Your personal information has been removed from the OKCaller website, so your information is no longer out there, right?
Dream on.
OKCaller is only one of hundreds of websites that may have your personal information stored on their servers.
Websites that may have your personal data can include (and there are plenty more):
- BeenVerified
- Instant Checkmate
- Intelius
- PeopleFinders
- PeopleLooker
- Pipl
- Spokeo
- USSearch
- ZabaSearch
As we covered above, it is relatively easy to manually opt out of people-finder and data broker sites. Unfortunately, manually opting out on every individual website can be quite time-consuming. I’m talking about "three weekends in a row” time-consuming. Plus, even when you have all of your info removed, there is a good possibility that your information will make a return engagement to the site at a later date.
However, if you have a life, there is an easier way to remove your personal information from multiple websites, while entering your information a single time. For a usually reasonable subscription fee, a data removal service will simultaneously instruct data brokers and people-finder sites to delete your data, with little effort on your part.
The top data removal service to opt out of people-search sites
In this section, I’ll provide a closer look at the top-ranked data removal service.
Incogni’s reliable data removal services are available for the reasonable fee of just $6.49 per month when you subscribe annually, or $12.99 per month if you opt for a monthly subscription. Once you’ve subscribed and have authorized Incogni to contact OKCaller and other people-finder and data broker websites, and have provided the needed information, the removal service will start doing its thing. Incogni’s dashboard page provides a quick look at the data deletion process. At a glance, the dashboard displays the number of data removal requests that Incogni has submitted, the number of requests completed, and how many requests are still in progress. The dashboard also includes information about how many websites have agreed to no longer collect, sell, or trade your personal data. A full activity log lists all of the websites that have deleted your information from their servers. The provider’s “Detailed View” offers a list of all of the websites contacted by Incogni, the types of data they collect, trade, and sell, and the risks of having your information stored in that particular website’s database. Remember, people search and data broker sites are given a legally-designated length of time to delete your data from their databases. The amount of time allowed for deletion can vary from country to country and state to state. For example, while the European Union allows companies up to 30 days to delete your personal data, California gives them 15 extra days to comply. Incogni’s proprietary algorithm calculates whether or not a website is likely to have your personal information stored on its servers. Incogni then contacts those sites with data deletion requests. Incogni also contacts health information brokers and other websites that may have your info on file. Incogni’s services are also available to users residing in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Switzerland, and Canada. 1. Incogni
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How to opt out of OKCaller FAQs