I have filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General, the FTC and the BBB regarding Radaris. Radaris has my full name, address, employment information, email, birthdate, close relatives and all of their personal information, displayed prominently on search engines through their website. This will allow anyone, nomatter how malevolent their intentions, to track me down to do physical harm to me or my family, or use my information to steal my identity.
Why I am so concerned:
I have been the victim of Identity theft multiple times and have fraud alerts on my credit file since 2003 when my information was first stolen. Since that time my information has also been taken through the Equifax Hack (Equifax confirmed this) and also through the U.S. Federal Government's hack a few years ago which the U.S. Government said was done by China.
Both Equifax and the U.S. Federal Government (Through the OPM) are paying for identity theft protection services which will only last a certain amount of time and then end.
In addition to this a few years back someone was able to file my taxes without my knowledge and I have fraud alerts with the IRS. I had to send the IRS a notarized affidavit showing that someone else filed my taxes. How were they able to do this? With information displayed publicly online through search websites such as Radaris no doubt.
Many of the security questions asked by the credit bureaus to prove my identity Radaris has displayed prominently on their website. Online. At the top of google.
And I am closely related to members of law enforcement, both current and retired, who take part in cases against dangerous people. Radaris has exposed those LINKS and familial relationships publicly on their website.
I went to the Radaris website to have my information removed and to my astonishment, Radaris requires you to 'opt in' and get a membership to do this and they also require you to agree to their terms and conditions.
What's in the Radaris Terms and Conditions?
There is one clause specifically where you have to agree that Radaris 'OWNS' all of your info and will continue to 'OWN' all of your personal info.
Without you agreeing to give Radaris FULL OWNERSHIP of all of your personal info, making it possible for them to publicly display all of your information online - they won't allow you to even request a removal of your information from their site.
I refused to do this.
Radaris has also LIED to the public by placing a clause in their terms and conditions which states that they are 'not a consumer reporting agency'. Now why would Radaris tell this lie? Becuase if they are viewed by the regulatory bureaus as being a consumer reporting agency, they are OBLIGATED by LAW to make sure all the information they publicly display about each of us is correct or they face financial penalties and can be sued.
Well, the problem for Radaris is that per a recent Federal Court Case, they ARE a consumer reporting agency. (Please see Robins v. Spokeo, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit).
This case was eventually decided against Robins because the court said he essentially had no standing to sue WITHOUT a clearly defined HARM (job loss, etc.) HOWEVER the most important thing to note is that Spokeo and 'like companies' that are online data aggregators WERE DEFINED THROUGH THE COURT PROCEEDINGS AS BEING CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES.
So you are allowed to file complaints against Radaris through the FTC for incorrect information displayed and you are also allowed to SUE RADARIS if you suffer a CLEAR HARM (someone rescinds a job offer, you suffer job loss, you have a loan rescinded, etc.) due to incorrect' information displayed on the Radaris Website.
SO RADARIS IS INDEED A CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY AND SUBJECT TO THE REGULATIONS OF THE FTC and FCRA and RADARIS CAN BE HELD FINANCIALLY LIABLE IF THEY DISPLAY INCORRECT INFORMATION ONLINE WHICH CAUSES SOMEONE TO SUFFER HARM.
So I've been attempting to reach Radaris by phone at their number 1.855.723.2747 and no answers. Ever. I've called dozens of times over a period of several days.
And Radaris has no email that you can send information to.
And frankly.. I'm too afraid to contact them through my facebook account because they are in the business of aggregating information about us and I'm sure they will pull that info into their system.
So I may simply create a fake facebook account to message them.. but I figure they will demand all of my identifying information up front and tie that fake facebook account to me in their system as well.
So it's an ongoing issue trying to get my information removed through Radaris.
Radaris has an opt out for law enforcement but not for their 'families' and those who are 'related closely' with them. And this is insufficient because one does not need to be law enforcement to suffer harm by being 'found' or having their personal address 'so publicly displayed'. One could be fleeing a dangerous spouse or partner and there are many other instances where people feel safer being LEFT ALONE.
NOTE TO THE PUBLIC:
1. Stop doing change of addresses through the U.S. Postal Service. The U.S. Postal Service SELLS this info several times a year to credit bureaus and data aggregators whose sole purpose is to keep TRACK OF US ALL.
2. Have a private mail box where you continue to get all of your mail so that nomatter how many times you move you can use the same address to get your mail and simply have the private mailbox (such as the UPS Store) forward it to you. (They don't report to data aggregators).
3. Put as much MISLEADING INFORMATION about yourself online such as birthdates and addresses and create FAKE PROFILES on social media all over the country to throw off these data aggregators such as Radaris.
3. Use phone apps which generate disposable numbers to use on all online ordering forms and social media. Only give your family your real phone number. Don't use it anywhere else.
4. Have a disposable fake email address (Radaris says this isn't allowed but they don't know what's disposable or not) to communicate with Radaris and others. Radaris will only snapshot and SELL your email address in the first place if they have the real one.
5. FILE AS MANY COMPLAINTS AS YOU CAN WITH YOUR STATE'S ATTORNEY GENERAL, THE BBB, THE FTC, AND THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO COMPLAIN ABOUT RADARIS. WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN.START PETITIONS. SOMETHING MUST BE DONE TO STOP THESE COMPANIES WHO HAVE PLACED THE DOLLAR ABOVE OUR PERSONAL PRIVACY AND SAFETY.
I will continue to fight Radaris to have my information removed as it endangers my life and those of my family.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer's satisfaction.
I have filed a complaint with the BBB against Radaris as they are the only data broker that will not suppress my personal name and location information from being returned in search engine results. These search results can be clicked to reveal my city. I am the victim of life-altering domestic violence at the hands of a violent convicted felon, who is now free. This felon knows I use a gym and armed with radaris's info showing my city can stake out the few gyms in my city and attack me again. I have used Radaris's opt out procedure to open an account by giving out my phone number (which I did not want them to have) in order to receive a text to set up the account. I am unable to remove my information as they promised I would be able to do using their "control information" tool. I sent radaris many emails through my account asking them to omit my information from showing up in search results by, say, using two lines of code outlined in a google blog post called a robots.txt file which instruct search engines to skip over information. Like the author above I called Radaris @ 855.723.2747. When someone finally answered, they hung up without saying another word after I said I am calling to have my information removed. I think they then marked my phone number for an infinite hold loop as I spent many hours on hold after that and no one answered.
Radaris filters as much information they can online about anyone. I have seen addresses where I never lived, somewhere I have lived, schools I have attended and some that I have not attended, there are jobs where I have worked and jobs I never worked. There are also some places on their website where I live and some jobs I have actually worked. This company gets paid from advertisements but it can be very detrimental for anyone who is fleeing from danger, applying for a job and or institutional programs because the information is not resourceful. There have been so many data breaches to where you can't rely on these types of websites. Your best source is the person you know and educational background checks. You can really do damage to someone if you upload a resume to a public job search engine that goes against their current resume for revenge especially if they're private with their information. Some jobs/institutional programs may give that person the benefit of a doubt to verify their background while other will toss your application without a second guess esoecially if they have a lot of candidates. That's modern day revenge... hit them in their pockets even if the person they are attacking has caused no harm to them.
I contacted Radaris to get my information removed and they claimed I needed to sign up and give them my personal phone number to take down the profile-more information they can sell to stalkers and domestic abusers. BBB refuses to do anything because this company is located in Cyprus. Contacting my state AG.
Radaris, owned by Bitsellers Experts Limited, steals personal information from online cookies. Your information will be sold worldwide to people or companies without your knowledge or permission.
I am a UK resident and I sued Bitsellers Expert Limited, which owns RADARIS. My case was heard at the IPEC Section of the Royal Court of Justice and I won the case. As a plaintiff, I sued the company personally and received damages. The use of a solicitor is expensive. The court will assist you if you have a solid case since you are not a lawyer. Despite the fact that the award was not significant, my data was removed from the website. The goal was to prevent them from republishing my photos or information for profit. It is advisable to contact Continental Broadband (the hosting provider for Radaris website, which is based in the US) if you are having difficulty getting RADARIS to remove your personal and sensitive data from their website.
Before pursuing legal action against BITSELLERS EXPERT LIMITED, I contacted them at least 20 times asking for them to remove my information and photos from their website. However, I was ignored so I found out that Continental Broadband was the hosting provider for RADARIS. I emailed them once and explained the problem. When I provided them with details of my problem with Radaris, it took only a couple of days for them to delete my photos and personal information from the Radaris website.
Therefore, if you believe that your data has been stolen without your permission and you can't get RADARIS to remove it, you should contact their host provider. If they do not act quickly, they may also be liable for copyright infringement.
The case was concluded almost one year ago in September 2021 and the damages have yet to be paid. I have now applied to the Royal Court of Justice, England, to enforce the order to include an order to freeze the bank account of BiTSELLERS EXPERT LIMITED until payment is made in full.
Don't allow this kind of deceit to continue. You have rights under the Data Protection Act and Copyright Act.
Thank you! I’m also in the process of hiring a lawyer.
This company os disgusting!
I am glad you were able to get your information removed via Continental Broadband. I am currently having the same issue. Can you please provide the email address that you used to successfully get your information removed as I can't seem to locate Continental Broadband's email via their website.
I’m dealing with the same issue their posting pictures of my past dealings from 15yrs ago I’m a business owner.
And this is now affecting my revenue and my clients. I called left messages even e-mailed. I’m in the process of hiring an attorney as we speak! This company is disgusting and have ruined peoples lively hood.
I hope other’s will sue as well. They have no right taking your personal info and posting without your consent.
Defamation of character or anything else along the lines of violation of privacy.