Mugshots.com is a West Indies-owned website that scrapes arrest booking photos from all 50 states in the United States and offers them in a searchable format. The website calls itself a "Google for Mugshots.”
The information found in the website’s search results from millions of records includes police records, which can include mugshots, court records, driving citations, felonies, misdemeanors, photos, court documents, addresses, phone numbers, and more.
Mugshots.com does not charge a fee for its services, either by law enforcement or the general public. While the declared goal of websites like Mugshots.com is to improve public safety by providing arrest information, the site could also be used by bad actors to blackmail people who may have made a mistake or two in their past.
Websites like Mugshots.com could also cause issues for those who were arrested but not charged or convicted, such as loss of employment (even though websites like Mugshots.com are not supposed to be used to screen employees).
The good news is that it’s possible to opt out of having your information included on Mugshots.com. In this article, I’ll show you how to request to have your personal data removed from the Mugshots.com website, as well as other similar websites and services.
Why should I opt out of Mugshots.com?
Websites like Mugshots.com, which includes people-search and data broker websites, make your personal information available to anyone. While services like these are legal, many people do not know that their personal data is available on these websites.
Why would anyone need access to your arrest records or other personal data? The Mugshots.com website claims its purpose is to inform the public of arrests and to hold law enforcement accountable for the humane treatment of those arrested.
Unfortunately, the information on the website could cause problems for citizens that may have been arrested but not convicted or that committed a misdemeanor offense when they were young. Information like this could also be used by blackmailers to extort money from people who may not want their past transgressions revealed.
ProPrivacy urges U.S. readers to immediately opt out of having their arrest information stored and shared by Mugshots.com. They are also strongly recommended to have their personal information removed from the hundreds upon hundreds of other people-search sites and data brokers.
How to opt out of Mugshots.com
It is reasonably easy to opt out of having your personal information shared by Mugshots.com and similar websites. However, there are hundreds of sites like Mugshots.com that may have your information. In addition, your information could be stored on many of these sites under multiple email addresses, variations of your name ( for example, "Chris” instead of "Christopher”), as well as different addresses and phone numbers.
It could be quite time-consuming to track down and delete all of your records, as you’ll have to repeat the search process on each of these hundreds of websites. But hey, everyone needs a time-consuming hobby, right?
To manually remove your personal information from Mugshots.com, do the following:
1. Start by visiting the Mugshots.com website.
2. Enter your name in the provided search field in the upper right-hand corner of the Mugshots.com home page. Be careful to avoid the other "search boxes” on the site, which lead to other people-search sites.
3. On the next page, browse the search results until you find the record you wish to have deleted from the site. Click the name shown.
4. Once you’ve confirmed that this is the correct record, copy or write down the record number displayed next to "Mugshots.com” in the record.
5. Now, you’ll need to gather documentation to support your removal request. If the subject has died, you’ll need a certified copy of the subject’s death certificate, signed by the proper authorities. If the subject is not deceased, you’ll have to submit court documents, signed by a judge and sealed by the court that has jurisdiction to prove the subject was not charged or convicted.
6. Once you have collected all of the required documents, send a removal request by email to:
Mugshot removals – [email protected]
Mugshot updates – [email protected]
Now, you’ll want to periodically check back on the Mugshots.com website to ensure that your data has not made a return engagement on the website.
How to remove yourself from other people-search sites
Now that you’ve had your arrest information removed from Mugshots.com, you’re all set, right?
Not really.
You see, Mugshots.com is not the only people-finder or data broker site that has your personal information on its servers. There are hundreds of other websites that may also have your personal information stored.
These websites include, but are not limited to:
- BeenVerified
- Instant Checkmate
- Intelius
- PeopleFinders
- PeopleLooker
- Pipl
- Spokeo
- USSearch
- ZabaSearch
As previously mentioned, while the process of manually opting out of people-finder and data broker sites is relatively simple, it will be a tedious and time-consuming activity to opt out on each individual website. Then, it’s quite possible that your information will make a return on the site later down the line.
There is an easy way to remove your personal information from multiple websites by just entering your information once. By subscribing to a data removal service, you can simultaneously instruct data brokers and people-finder sites to remove your data, all for a nominal subscription fee.
The top data removal service to opt out of people-search sites
In this section, we’ll take a close look at the best data removal service.
Incogni, our number one pick, contacts individual data brokers with data removal requests and then subsequently chases them up. It’s a great value service that’s easy for anyone to use. Incogni provides reliable data removal services for a reasonable fee of just $6.49 per month for an annual subscription, or $12.99 per month if you opt to subscribe monthly. Once you’ve subscribed, you’ll need to authorize Incogni to contact Mugshots.com, as well as people-finder and data broker websites, and provide the information required to accomplish the task so the service can begin the data removal process. Incogni provides an easy-to-understand dashboard, offering at a glance the number of data removal requests that Incogni has sent, the number of requests that have been completed, and the number of requests currently in progress. The dashboard displays how many sites have agreed to no longer collect, sell, or trade your personal information. The dashboard also includes a full activity log, listing all of the companies that have removed your information from their databases. Incogni also provides a “Detailed View” page that lists the websites Incogni has contacted, the types of data the websites collect and sell, and the associated risks in having your information stored on that particular website. Keep in mind that It will take a while to see results, as these companies are allowed a certain length of time to remove your data from their databases. The amount of time allowed can vary on a country-by-country or state-by-state basis (the European Union allows these types of websites up to 30 days to remove your information, while in California they have a bit longer, 45 days). Incogni’s proprietary algorithm calculates whether or not a website is likely to have its hands on your personal information. The service then sends data removal requests to those sites. Incogni also gets in touch with health information brokers and similar websites. While many data removal services are only available to the citizens of the United States, Incogni’s services are also available to those living in other countries. The service is also available to citizens of the United Kingdom, the European Union, Switzerland, and Canada. 1. Incogni
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