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FastPeopleSearch opt-out, step by step

By Erin Sheridan · · 7 min read

FastPeopleSearch opt-out, step by step
On this page
  1. Before step one
  2. The walkthrough
  3. What you will see, and what it means
  4. If the link expired
  5. When the search engine has not caught up
  6. When FastPeopleSearch lists you again
  7. The look-alike sites

The FastPeopleSearch opt-out is a two-part job with a deadline in the middle. You fill in a short form, the site emails you a link, and that link opens a second form where you identify the exact record to take down. Miss the link's window and you start again. This walkthrough shows how to remove yourself from FastPeopleSearch at the time of writing, what each screen is asking for, and what to do when a listing comes back.

Privacy toolkit for this job

  • NordPassEmail Masking (Premium and Family plans) gives each form its own forwarding address, so brokers never get your main inbox.Start with NordPass

Picked from published documentation and reviews, not our own testing. We earn a commission from some services we link to. The full Privacy kit

Before step one

Ten minutes of preparation makes the second form much easier, and it is the part most people skip.

Find your record before you go near the opt-out page. Search FastPeopleSearch for your name with your current city and state, open the result that matches your age and past cities, and note exactly how the record shows your name, age, city and current address. The second form works best when what you enter matches what the record says. If the record lists you as Jane A Example in Sampleton, that is the version to use, even if you now go by something else.

Search your older cities and name variants too, and note each record separately. Every record you find will need its own pass through the process. You will also see other people's records as you search; leave them alone, because removals are for your own listing.

Set up an email address used only for removals, and keep it open in another tab. The emailed link is the one step with a clock on it.

Decide in advance what you will not give. A free people-search removal never needs a Social Security number, a card number, a photo of an ID or a payment. If a page asks for any of those, you are not on the opt-out form.

The walkthrough

  1. Open the opt-out page at fastpeoplesearch.com/optout. Type the address rather than clicking a search ad, since ads for removal often lead to paid services. If a security check appears, complete it.
  2. Fill in the first form. At the time of writing it asks for a name and an email address. Use your removals address, and give your name the way the record shows it.
  3. Go to your inbox and find the message from FastPeopleSearch, checking the spam folder if it is not in the main one. Open its link within 24 hours. After that the link is no good and you go back to step 1.
  4. Fill in the second form, which is where you pick out the record. Enter the details exactly as your record shows them, using the notes you made earlier. Do not add a newer address or phone number that the record does not have; that would only hand the site fresh data.
  5. Send the second form. If the site shows a confirmation message or sends another email, save it in your removals folder.
  6. Write it down: the record (name and city as shown), the date of each step and the email you used. Our opt-out checklist can hold this for you, saved only in your own browser.
  7. Wait about three days, which is the expected time at the time of writing, then search for the record again with the same name and city.
  8. Repeat the whole process for every other record in your notes: each older city, each name variant. One record per pass, and finish each pass before starting the next.

What you will see, and what it means

Screens change and buttons get new labels, so go by what each step is for rather than the exact wording. At the time of writing, the process looks roughly like this:

What you see What it means What to do
A security check or "verify you are human" page The site screens out automated traffic Complete it; if it never loads, pause a VPN or strict blocker for this page
A page saying you have been blocked Your connection is refused outright, often from outside the US or behind a VPN Try from an ordinary home connection in the US; retrying the same way will not help
A short form asking for a name and an email Part one, which only starts the request Use your removals address and your name as the record shows it
An email from FastPeopleSearch with a link Proof that you control the address Open the link within 24 hours
A link that no longer works The 24 hour window has passed, or the link was already used Start again from part one
A longer form asking about the record Part two, which picks the exact record Copy the details from your notes, as listed
A page asking you to search and press a button to remove a record An older version of the flow, which many published guides still describe Same idea: find your record, request removal, confirm by email
The record still showing after three days The details may not have matched, or the request is still waiting Compare your notes with the record and run the process once more
A search engine preview, but no record on the site A search engine is showing an old copy Give it time, or use Google's request tools
A new record under a new address, months later Fresh source data has created a new listing Treat it as a new removal

It happens to careful people. The email lands in spam, or arrives while you are out, and by the time you see it the day is gone. Start again from step 1 with the same details. Send one new request, not several: with more than one link in your inbox it is easy to open an old one and wonder why nothing happens.

If the email never arrives at all, check that you typed the removals address correctly, then try again later. Spam filters sometimes catch these messages, so look in every folder before you assume nothing came.

When the search engine has not caught up

A removed record can linger in search results as a preview for a while. Before you start over, click through to the site itself. If FastPeopleSearch no longer shows the record, your part is done, and the search result usually catches up on its own. If a preview showing your address hangs around for weeks, my piece on Google's Results about you explains how to ask Google to drop it and what that tool cannot do.

When FastPeopleSearch lists you again

An opt-out stops the record you removed. It does not stop new data arriving. The FTC's page on people search sites warns that if the information in your public records changes, your details could reappear for sale. A move, a new phone line or a property purchase can each produce a fresh record, and a fresh record can become a fresh listing.

So set a reminder for three months from now. When it comes up, search your name with your current city and your most recent old one. A record that has come back needs the full process again; an earlier confirmation does not carry over to a new listing. Once a year, run through every city in your notes.

The look-alike sites

FastPeopleSearch has several cousins that look and work in a similar way, and each needs its own request. At the time of writing, USPhonebook uses the same two-step email process, CyberBackgroundChecks also sends a link to open within 24 hours, Advanced Background Checks asks for the details exactly as your record shows them, and SearchPeopleFree's emailed link opens a removal session of about 30 minutes, so be ready before you click it. My guide to removing yourself from TruePeopleSearch covers the best known of the group, including the phone opt-out its privacy notice lists.

If this is your first round of removals, the full opt-out guide puts the big sites in a sensible order, so you clear the ones strangers check first.

The one habit that makes all of this work is simple: open the email the same evening you send the first form. The 24 hours is the only part of the process with a clock on it, and everything else can wait until you have time.

Your next three steps

  1. Log this request in the opt-out checklist, with the date to look again.
  2. Give the next opt-out form its own address: NordPass Email Masking (Premium and Family plans) forwards to your inbox and can be switched off later.
  3. Roll an identity-blocking stamp over labels and letters before they go out, so the address you just removed doesn't leave in the recycling.