How to remove your personal information from the web

Your personal data is a digital goldmine for advertisers, businesses, and scammers. When you conduct online activities, companies harvest your data and sell it to data brokers, who can use this to more effectively advertise to you. Unfortunately, scammers also use these treasure chests to create elaborate phishing attempts. The best way to fight back against these intrusive ads and scams is to remove your data from these brokers. 

Also: What is phishing? Everything you need to know to protect against scam emails–and worse

This is where Incogni comes into play. It allows you to take back control of your privacy by removing your information from all the data brokers. Here's a closer look at why you need it, how it works, and how much it costs. 

What is Incogni and why would you need it?

Incogni is a data removal service that contacts data brokers on your behalf to get them to delete your data.

You've probably read in the news all the data breaches that have happened recently from Equifax to T-Mobile. When these happened, pockets of your information can go to scammers. Even having something as innocent as your email address allows them to create elaborate ruses that might draw you, or someone on your contact list in.

Also: Phishing attacks are getting scarily sophisticated. Here's what to watch out for

And even if a company doesn't experience a data breach, many are engaging in selling your data anyways. It includes your name, address, Social Security number, income, and much more. When they sell them to data broker websites, banks, insurance companies, even hackers can access them.

Having your information everywhere can impact you in surprising ways. Health insurance companies can monitor your online activities to raise your policy rates. Someone gathering enough information could pose as you to request a large loan or file a fraudulent tax return. And there was nothing you could do about it, until now. 

How does Incogni work?

What you'll find is Incogni is very easy to use. All you need to do is to set up an account, providing them with your primary information like your email and physical address. Upon setting up your account, Incogni sends removal requests on your behalf to data brokers. Why do data brokers comply with Incogni? Because Incogni uses CCPA, GDPR, and other privacy laws to ensure your information remains yours. 

It'll also reach out to people search websites like BeenVerified to request opt-out. Doing this removes personal information like your home address, income information, and more. 

Also: What's the best way to ensure your privacy with a web browser? 

Doing all of this work on your own would take over 300 hours. With Incogni, you sit back, relax, and have them do the work for you. Not only will they remove your information from data brokers, they'll continually be on the hunt. That way, if your information respawns online, they'll be on top of it, requesting to have it removed. Within the first week of having the service, data brokers already respond to Incogni's request, with many data removal requests completed in the first month!

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Incogni

Incogni removes your information from data brokers so you're less likely to receive spam or have your information compromised. 

How much does Incogni cost?

Incogni is surprisingly inexpensive. It has an annual plan starting at $77.88, averaging out to $6.49 monthly. It also has a monthly plan from $12.99. Each plan features a 30-day money back guarantee and you can cancel at anytime. 

You can learn more and sign up here.