Are you getting a lot of cold calls from people trying to sell you something? Have fake social media profiles with your personal information been popping up?
If so, marketers and internet scammers may have accessed your contact and personal information from a data broker site like Instant Checkmate. Data brokers collect and sell information on millions of Americans, creating detailed profiles available to anyone willing to pay. These sites aggregate data from public records, social media, and other legal sources to create profiles on their websites for individual people. These profiles list everything from your name to your phone number to your spouse’s name. To protect yourself from unsolicited marketing, scammers, and — heaven forbid — stalkers, it’s a good idea to remove your information from data broker sites like Instant Checkmate.
We’ll walk you through the specific steps to do that and give you options on how to stay on top of these sites so your personal information stays private. We’ll also discuss using a data removal service like Incogni to automate the process.
>> Related: How to Opt Out of Intelius
What Is Instant Checkmate?
Instant Checkmate is a data broker site that cobbles together information on individual people by scouring public records, social media, and other publicly available sources. They organize this information into individual profiles that are linked to actual people. These profiles are organized into a searchable database. You could enter your name into a site like Instant Checkmate and find an entire profile on you that includes your name, current address, current phone number, previous phone numbers, previous addresses, your relatives, your business associates, your criminal history, and more.
If you think the ability to pull up all of this personal information on somebody is a bit creepy, that’s because it is. However, because these sites use a combination of public data and information that’s on the public internet, there is nothing illegal about what they do. In fact, there is a high demand for services like this. Instant Checkmate and many sites like it are subscription-based. Marketers looking to target key decision-makers by calling their personal phones and sending them personal emails, are often willing to pay a price to get that contact information.
FYI: Instant Checkmate aggregates data from numerous publicly available sources, including datasets not indexed by standard search engines like Google. The platform cross-references these sources to build comprehensive and accurate personal profiles.
How Do I Opt-Out of Instant Checkmate?
If you don’t like the idea of complete strangers finding a lot of information about you with a handful of keystrokes, then you should opt out of Instant Checkmate. Privacy regulations, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and similar state laws, require data broker sites to provide users with the ability to request deletion of their personal information.
Of course, these sites don’t make it straightforward because they are financially invested in publishing personal information. With Instant Checkmate, you can delete the information the site is currently holding about you. However, data broker sites are constantly scouring records for new information. If you delete your information today and buy a house tomorrow, Instant Checkmate could scan the public record of your real estate purchase and recreate your file using the information listed in the public record.
Fortunately, the law also provides remediation for people who want to delete their information and take steps to keep it that way. We’ll get into both processes so you can completely opt out of Instant Checkmate.
>> Related Article: How to Opt Out of Nuwber
Step 1: Delete Your Information
While some data broker sites make you find your profile to start the opt-out process, Instant Checkmate has a data removal page in the troubleshooting section of its Help Center, which we found with a quick Google search. We followed the data removal link on the Help Center page to the Data Privacy Center page.
This page had a bunch of different options listed under a section called User Data Tools. Of course, the last option is for pulling your information out of Instant Checkmate, under the Right to Delete section. Other options in the Data Privacy Center included:
- Right to Know: With this option, you can receive a report about the information Instant Checkmate is currently holding about you.
- Right to Correct: This option allows you to correct any wrong information that Instant Checkmate is holding about you. Making sure your address and phone number are correctly listed by Instant Checkmate seems like an odd thing to worry about, but the option is there if you want it.
- Right to Opt-Out: This might seem like the right option if you want to opt out of Instant Checkmate. Of course, this is a deceptive option, as it only allows you to delete the cookies in your browser, which you should be doing regularly anyway.
The final Right to Delete option is how you pull your information off Instant Checkmate. Under that section, clicking the button labeled “DELETE MY USER DATA” removes all information associated with an email address you provide, after clicking on a link in a confirmation email sent to that address.
Instant Checkmate states it must delete your information “to the extent required by law,” but notes it may retain some data to prevent fraud, enforce billing agreements, use as evidence in legal proceedings, and in other situations where it’s “necessary and legally permitted.” California’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and similar state laws require data brokers to honor deletion requests, though certain exemptions still apply.
Unfortunately, that legalese will probably come as little comfort to those of us looking to keep our personal information off the Internet. However, opting out of Instant Checkmate and sites like it is still a useful exercise that can help maintain some degree of privacy.
Step 2: Suppress Your Information
After deleting your information that is currently being held by Instant Checkmate, you need to go a step further to suppress your information from appearing on the website in the future.
In the Data Privacy Center under the Right to Delete section, there’s a link to submit a data suppression request. After clicking it, you’ll be directed to the Suppression Center—a centralized hub for managing your public information across websites owned by the data broker company PeopleConnect. This includes Instant Checkmate, TruthFinder, and Intelius.
Pro Tip: Filing a suppression request with PeopleConnect will suppress your information across all of its data broker platforms. It’s also how we opted out of TruthFinder and Intelius.
To complete the suppression process, you’ll need to provide your email address and confirm your date of birth. Next, select a record containing accurate personal information about you. You’ll then be directed to a page where you can officially suppress that record. Once you submit your request, a confirmation email will be sent to the address you provided.
There’s a tool called Incogni , which removes your sensitive data from data-broker sites. It’s the ultimate checkmate.
What Happens Once I Opt-Out of Instant Checkmate?
After deleting our current information and taking steps to suppress future publication, we had to see if anything happened.
So, we immediately tried to search for the name we tried to remove. What we got was a page that said, “The search was too broad” and asked if we could provide additional information, like a middle initial and age. We had already provided that information, but we reentered it anyway and still got told our search was “too broad”—which led us to believe our deletion and suppression requests were working.
Pro Tip: Now that you’ve opted-out of Instant Checkmate, consider taking steps to remove your address from the internet.
How to Use a Data Removal Service to Opt-Out of Instant Checkmate
Clearly, it’s a bit cumbersome to opt out of data broker sites like Instant Checkmate. If you’re reading this, you’ve likely discovered that the process isn’t straightforward – and that’s by design. These companies profit from posting personal information, so making it difficult to opt out works in their favor.
Even if you successfully navigate the opt-out process, there’s a strong chance your information will reappear down the line when Instant Checkmate discovers a new social media post or public record about you. And here’s the frustrating part: what sites like Instant Checkmate do is completely legal under current federal data privacy laws, though some states.
Because of the hassle and growing demand for privacy, data removal services have emerged to handle the ongoing battle of keeping your information off data broker sites. These services continuously monitor data broker platforms for your information. If your data appears, you can choose to be notified or have it automatically removed by the service.
We regularly test these services and maintain a list of the best data removal services. Currently, we’ve rated Incogni as our top pick for keeping your information off Instant Checkmate and other data broker sites in 2026.
Final Thoughts: How to Opt Out of Instant Checkmate
Opting out of Instant Checkmate isn’t easy, but it’s something we strongly recommend doing. In addition to deleting your current information from the website, it’s critical to submit a suppression request. Even then, there’s no guarantee your information won’t reappear later. Instant Checkmate isn’t breaking any federal laws by aggregating public data, so it has little incentive to stop doing it, even at the individual level.
Due to the ongoing nature of keeping your information off data broker websites, we recommend looking into a data removal service like Incogni. Automated tools used by these services can help protect your privacy, lower your risk of identity theft, and minimize the amount of unsolicited contact you receive from marketers and scammers.
>> Related Article: How to Opt Out of PeekYou
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is it legal for Instant Checkmate to sell my information?
Yes. All of the information aggregated by Instant Checkmate is publicly available. Instant Checkmate might argue that it’s selling the aggregation service, not the information itself.
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What’s the best way to opt out of Instant Checkmate?
We think using Incogni is the best way to opt out because it automates an ongoing process. You’ll need to pay a subscription fee, but you won’t have to lift a finger beyond that initial setup.
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Does it cost money to opt out of Instant Checkmate?
No, you can opt out for free by following the process described above. It takes some patience, and your information may reappear after a few weeks or months. If it does, you’ll have to go through the opt-out process again.
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How do I get all of my information off Instant Checkmate?
You’ll need to fill out delete and suppression requests for all your email addresses to completely wipe your information from the site. Because that can take considerable time and effort, we recommend using an automated data removal service.
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Is there a way to stop Instant Checkmate from collecting my information?
Unfortunately, you cannot get Instant Checkmate to stop searching for and collecting your information.
