How to Opt Out of Spy Dialer

Data brokers like Spy Dialer occupy a gray area of the web. They’re not technically stealing data because the information they collect is public, but they’re definitely providing more of a disservice than a service to our online privacy. The phone number they help us find today could be our phone number in the hands of an identity thief tomorrow.

Fortunately, there’s a way to scrub your personally identifiable information (PII) from Spy Dialer’s database. In this guide, we’ll show you how Spy Dialer works and how you can get them to remove your data. If you’d like a little extra help, we’ll also introduce some data removal services that offer a more comprehensive solution to any data broker problems you run into.

What is Spy Dialer?

Spy Dialer is a free online service that helps you track down the names of anonymous callers through “reverse phone number lookup.” Essentially, they’re matching the phone number you give them to a name in their database. It’s just like the Whitepages but backward. It can even be useful. If you receive a suspicious text or call, you can identify the caller in seconds.

To Spy Dialer’s credit, they don’t give out full addresses or phone numbers (if you don’t already have them). But it’s still a data broker that gathers reams of our data without our consent. And as with any data, there’s always the chance it could end up in the hands of fraudsters and predators. For that reason, we recommend removing your personal details from Spy Dialer’s database. Here’s how to do it.

How to Opt Out of Spy Dialer

Spy Dialer didn’t make us jump through any hoops to remove our data. Links and buttons to do so are everywhere on the website. We appreciated this, especially after our experience opting out of MyLife, which was substantially more time-consuming and tricky. Here’s what you need to do.

1. Click the Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information link in the footer. There’s also a button beneath the footer links and another link in the FAQ. Clicking any of these brings you to a page with a big “Start” button front and center. Click on the button.

2. Give Spy Dialer the state where you live. Don’t worry, you aren’t divulging any data they don’t already have. This is just a way for Spy Dialer to make sure they’re deleting your data and not the data of another person living in another state with your name.

3. Fill out the rest of the form. We gave Spy Dialer our name and address and that was enough. We didn’t have to fill out any other fields. We recommend you do the same. With data brokers, the less you give, the better.

4. Click the Opt-Out My Info button. Once you click the red button, you’re just about done.

5. Wait for the confirmation screen. Our opt-out confirmation came instantly. Some people search sites can take up to two weeks to process data removal requests. In our experience, though, it usually takes about a day or two, as was the case when we opted out of PeopleFinders.

Recap

Spy Dialer may come in handy if you’re getting spammed by phone or you want to verify someone’s identity on the fly. But the limited service it provides isn’t worth the broad risks it poses to our internet safety. Simply put, Spy Dialer is one more clearinghouse for our private data with an open door to crooks, including identity thieves.

Fortunately, it’s easy to opt out of Spy Dialer. We did it in a few minutes, and it worked. At least for a day. But eventually our phone number will be back on Spy Dialer’s list. Ditto for any data we remove from any of the hundreds of people search sites we opt out of. That doesn’t mean we recommend throwing in the towel. But we do think a data removal service probably makes a lot more sense over the long run.