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If you’re looking for a job, an apartment, or a loan, there’s a good chance that someone will be looking at you — closely. They may search for your name online or order a background report. They’re looking for red-flag warnings that another candidate may be a safer bet.
 
 
 
According to a lawsuit announced today, MyLife.com, which sells background reports, raised red flags by posting deceptive “teaser” reports online. The lawsuit says MyLife promoted these reports to employers, landlords, and others to convince them to subscribe to its services. The Department of Justice filed the lawsuit on behalf of the FTC.
 
 
Here’s how it worked: MyLife displayed the teaser reports when someone typed a person’s name into a search bar at MyLife.com. If the person had no criminal, traffic, or sex offender records, the report typically suggested the person had such records. It also prominently displayed large, clickable buttons, one inviting the user to “View [searched-for person’s] Court, Arrest, or Criminal Records,” and another inviting the user to “View [searched-for person’s] Sex Offender Records.” Mylife.com users could view the full records only after paying for a subscription.
 
 
In many instances the searched-for people did not have criminal or sexual offender records, or they had minor traffic citations only. As a result, the lawsuit says, the reports were deceptive, violating the FTC Act.
 
 
The lawsuit also charges that MyLife didn’t take reasonable steps to make sure its background reports were accurate, violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act, used misleading billing practices, violating the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, and didn’t clearly and truthfully disclose that MyLife “had a policy of not making refunds and of discouraging cancellations,” violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
 
 
Before applying for a job, apartment, or loan, try to fix inaccurate information about you that someone considering your application might see. Start by ordering your free credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com and disputing any errors you find.

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The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

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jj1234
July 31, 2020
Finally!!! This company has been playing games with me for months! I filed a complaint with the FTC in April about it. One, they would say you had to register to their site in order to see or even ask about your own personal information and made it seem as that was the only procedure it had available to opt-out your personal information. They figured out a different way when I complained, and complained, and complained, until they did it correctly. What was odd I guess you would say, is that the whole time I am complaining from an email address, they are sending me links to try and get me to be a customer to my other email address, that if they were so good with information, would have realized was mine, right? You had to just keep after them before they would do it correctly and legally and it took a lot of time to do. Glad others say the same and they were made to answer for their actions!
mariatp115
August 04, 2020
Ordering your cr report prior is smart. Thank u...
Dick H
August 04, 2020
I have also found erroneous information on my life and on "Been Verified." In the latter case they had me living in two different addresses that were wrong. In one case, the address was in a state that I had never been. When I questioned that information, their response was that it was a public record. They never checked to ensure that I was the one who lived there. I will never trust "My Life"or Been Verified" again.
Pmcl
August 26, 2020
I have gone onto my life a few different tomes. I experienced all mentioned regarding their UNETHICAL practices. I paid for service in order to view what was noted pertaining to criminal records which I have none, etc. I've applied for loans, etc., I've requested cleanup records to be done & recently this past month they still had incorrect info never cleaned up. What happens to those they caused harm to? Where does it go from here? The government's suing, yet what about those they put bad info out on?. Please inform
my life?
September 14, 2020
checked mylife profile and says I’m associated with a list of people. Have never heard of any of them before, did quick searches for them on Facebook. Never seen any of them. No mutual friends. Really strange
Princesspiland
September 23, 2020
I just clicked on it and it says my 88 year old father may have an arrest record. I don't think so!!!! Luckily I didn't buy into it,
James
September 25, 2020
I have requested that this company remove me from their site on several occasions and they refuse to. They keep trying to get me to pay for their services that I do not want and they are invading on my privacy. I do not feel safe with the amount of information they have collected and then sell to others for a membership.
Steve
September 26, 2020
I get emails every soo often from this domain stating I am getting negative reviews . It also has mismatched my identity with a correct address. Stating people I have no idea who they are they claim are my relatives.. I keep to myself and have good credit as well as developed a good reputation. Yet they are placing me as having lawsuits and negative reviews. It is slanderous and I would like to be part of this lawsuit.
xaylla
October 08, 2020
I had no idea you could opt out of these sites and what was posted at My Life was way off base. Some of these sites even use google maps to target your address and at the same time they list your net worth as does My Life. That is just telling people that this person makes a lot of money and is a good robbery target among other things. My life and all of these sites need to be taken down for public safety!
KWCanads
October 12, 2020
Mylife keeps sending me the personal information of someone with the same name in Oregon. How can you keep your reputation safe when companies violate your privacy and give it away to anyone with a similar name?
Kate
October 15, 2020
Like many others, I see that my life has misinformation about me including references to court records (of which I have none), and says I have personal connections to people I’ve never met. I haven’t tried to remove the info yet, but it shouldn’t exist until he first place.
Person from NC
October 27, 2020
Just got a random email from them saying I have "negative reviews" however I cannot actually see what they are talking about without paying. I just unsubscribed from their list. I never signed up in the first place. This company appears to be scammers hoping to make money off the gullible.
Anne Fea
October 28, 2020
My life.com has me married to someone I was never married to. I called them and told them they have inaccurate info about me and all I heard was music after I said that. I called back and music again. They never answered.
papalacios
October 30, 2020
I just recently saw that website. It has numerous things incorrect about me on it. I have no criminal conviction, and there are names in the list of personal connections that I either have never heard of or haven't spoken to in over 20 years. Absolute scam site.
Starheart
November 10, 2020
How do I get involved in this and who do I contact? I want any information posted on me off this site if they have posted anything.
Rose of pa
November 12, 2020
Mylife charged me for a subscription that I sent 4 emails cancelling. When I called the contact number, I got an error message. That was 2xs
Jmanning
November 16, 2020
I hope to God they are shut down. They sent me emails stating that my reputation was being affected because of my legal records- which I do not have one. When I reviewed my information, they had taken another person’s information and linked it to me. I had to call and fight with them to remove my information and they said I would have to sign up with an account to request the correction. Total scam!!!
VERY CONCERED
November 17, 2020
I have tried 8 different times over the past 6 months for this site to delete any and ALL profiles created about me. THERE IS A reason that concerns the safetly of me and my children! NO they do not need to parade everyone's physical address for the entire globe to see. DONT THEY UNDERSTAND that SOME of us have come out of extremely abusive relationships and they are LITERALLY making it very easy for people that make terrible choices to be able to continue to HURT OTHERS THEY HAVE ALREADY HURT! YES I pay my taxes on line because I have to BUT NO! Not everyone knows what County I live in.... Not until NOW thanks to this evil site
Confused
November 21, 2020
MyLife sent me an email telling me that negative information about me was searched by a person. Named my actual sister who lives in another state. I find this confusing and problematic. I refuse to subscribe to this site but I do think it is very odd. My sister has not replied to my inquiry about this.
jr8uup
November 22, 2020
Why are they still operating? Sending me emails that they found reputation risks on my report and all I need to do is pay money and they'll clear that up for me. As soon as but this guys bridge.
Get her done.
November 22, 2020
How do I get an alert and incorrect information and all my information removed from that app and others?
Shelly
November 25, 2020
I lost a friend over this website. Someone put I was married to brother and, had a criminal background And, I don’t. They were misleading people reading this website. I’ve never been married. No , kids and , I value my freedom. I wish they catch the people that are putting that on the profile. Shelly
Mon
November 29, 2020
I am actively looking for a job. I am being considered for a position. One day I believe I clicked on whitepages along with other websites to see what info they had. my life and other sites had false information about me. Stuff that could totally have me not get the job. In top of that the info was inaccurate. There has to be a remedy for ppl can lose a livelihood for their family.
ElaineS
December 28, 2020

In reply to by Mon

My profile is not only incorrect, I'm being charged $14.95 monthly and $54.95 every three months and cannot log in to my supposed account or cancel via the customer help line.
Kristopher
December 23, 2020
When doing an internet search of my own name, I came across the MyLife website and the page they have for me. I know it is for me because of the name, geographic area, relations, and age are all a match. However, despite this, they have false information about me in their teaser text. They claim false information about my marriage status, false information about my religion, as well as false information about having membership to a political party of which I have no affiliation with... This is really frustrating, because the industry I work in has certain ideas about all of these things, and having this false information in display could potentially be very damaging.
Ewills79
December 26, 2020
I paid to see what my reputation score was about and it was not even ME. They show people that are not related to me and I have no idea who they are. This website should be monitored better.
Theaccused
January 03, 2021
Mylife is one of many data brokers that is falsely accusing me of felonies I don't have. My page on Mylife states that 14 people have looked at my profile. This could be neighbors, prospective employers, relatives, all who may accept this information at face value. Based on what they say about me I look like a dangerous criminal. It's nearly impossible to remove this data from ALL these sites. It has impacted my life terribly.
Person2
January 03, 2021
Please shut them down. They have my info up there and listed me as married, but I’m not!
I need themto …
February 10, 2021
I need this site to erase the ridiculous info they have put about me how do I go about it?
Rich989
February 25, 2021
Been receiving junk mail from this 'company' for weeks telling me I have a 'negative comment' on my profile... I have no social media footprint and have no issues with real contacts that I am aware of... tried to unsubscribe from their notifications several times but the link doesn't work! Would love to get rid of this garbage.
G. C.
August 20, 2021

In reply to by Rich989

Same for me. Their profiles are not only inaccurate but often completely fake.
DJ
February 25, 2021
MY LIFE EMAILED ME TELLING ME THAT THAT WERE 2 DIFFERENT SITES WITH INFO ON ME. THEY LISTED NAMES OF SUPPOSED RELATIVES. NONE OF THEM ARE RELATED TO ME. I HAVE ASKED A NUMBER OF TIMES TO REMOVE ME FROM THEIR EMAIL LIST WHICH THEY HAVE FAILED TO DO.
JackH
February 28, 2021
Seeing expunged records only on this MyLife. I even verified it's expunged. This is a problem.
PA angry
March 15, 2021
on 3-11-21. applied for a search,search yielded sufficient info on subject and I paid 45.00 for 3 months of unlimited search. When I went to do search on myself and family was asked to PAY ANOTHER 45.00!!. Called Mylife rep and there excuse was you are doing new search!!! So in other words every new search would cost 45.00 for 3 months!!!! SCAM requested a refund after threatening to contact my Bank and Fla AG's office.
They Know Me Not
March 18, 2021
The funny thing is that I decided to look myself up in their foolish database and found some information that was laughably false. It's as if they don't even consult public records. I am tempted to ask them to remove my information. But I'd like to see what happens with this lawsuit.
LORI Shep
March 19, 2021
I feel so foolish. I just fell for it and gave my credit card info for 1 month which is supposed to be $16.95. I was unable to set up account and it disappeared. I only can view free profile report of myself which is inaccurate. What do I do? Can I stop them from charging my card? It is a scam. I was supposed to have unlimited access with entire report, which is a lie. If I want to view that, I am supposed to pay another $59.95. I didn't click on that but I did for 1 month at $16.95. I'm worried now because they have my credit card info. Could someone advise me on what to do? I don't want to lose my life savings, it is my debit/credit card. I feel so stupid and gullible. This should not be happening if there have been law suits against them. Everything I read is correct. They mislead you, you can't view report only what they show you, which information is not correct and I usually screenshot everything, but it disappeared when I clicked to go to my account that I never got. They don't know my name etc, so how do I have an account? I'm so angry. There needs to be something done, because I fell for it.
KWW123
March 20, 2021
It’s amazing that now in 2021 they are still blowing smoke and mirrors. They have linked me with family I am NOT related to. Neibor’s I don’t live next to. And they want me to subscribe.
JoyMoody
March 25, 2021
I have just discovered that my life.com has posted both false & confidential information about me. They list people that are not related to me, insinuate legal wrongdoing when I have never been a defendant. They also state that I may well use other names. What kind of message does that give? I am outraged that any company could be allowed to use personal as well as false & misleading information for profit. Is this not identity theft? They are not a legitimate credit agency. How can I remove myself from their site?
Don't use your…
March 25, 2021
I can't get subscription stopped. Canceled months ago and still being charged. Contained false data in myself I couldn't get corrected or deleted.
Patrick G
March 31, 2021

In reply to by Don't use your…

I closed the account inn December and they continue to collect monthly fee. I contested the charges with my bank and they were refunded, and yet new charges continue to appear. Very crocked business practice.
Joy
March 29, 2021
I just searched my reputation score and it says I have a number of criminal and civil court filings, which is completely inaccurate. It also associates me with family members whom I do not know and have never heard of. I also don't like my home address published on that site. I've emailed them asking all of this be remedied, but based on the comments below, it's going to take regulatory action to resolve this volume of slander and libel. It's truly criminal.
ToTheMoon
April 19, 2021
This site needs to be sued. I was curious and searched myself and it showed me as have a criminal record, lawsuit, lien or bankruptcy. I have NO SUCH THING! Imagine if my friends or even coworkers used this site to look me up and saw that and now think I do. Isn't that potential slander?
The-Lopez
April 22, 2021
Just found myself on there. Listed my home address openly, and both of my parents in thier full names. This is a blatant violation of privacy, and this company needs to be shut down.
Shaun m
April 28, 2021
There doing this exact thing to me right now except I can't unlock what's been said about me because I won't give them a dime I definitely want to report them
TMiranda
May 04, 2021
I really hope the government makes sites like these illegal. It is way too easy for stalkers to find personal information. I’ve opted out several times but it always comes back. Half of the information is inaccurate, but the parts that aren’t seriously put victims of domestic violence and bad relationships at risk.
Hexman
May 06, 2021
Well appears this has had little impact. I just received an email from them telling me I have criminal charges against me and a host of other issues. Maybe it was my doppelganger.
Glenn
May 11, 2021
I have received six (6) emails from MyLife in the last six days. I have written them to STOP sending these email. But they continue every day. My reputation score is established by the banks and legitimate credit bureau reports. MyLife provides junk and often inaccurate information.
Cco
May 12, 2021
I got a notice that my wife and my brother both had criminal court records. Well I know that isn't true. Both have passed background checks.for jobs. As a matter of fact, my wife was fingerprinted and had 3 backgrounds for one job. So yes it is a racket.
CRPG
May 17, 2021
After all of this time and being investigated for posting false or misleading information, I continue to receive daily emails from MyLife about my (fake) negative reputation. Why can’t the government actually shut them down for preying on people like this? Where are our consumer protections? I never contacted this company, I never gave them my email, I never signed up for any of their services, and they harass me on a daily basis.
Lilyann
May 23, 2021
My Life has people listed I don't even know as family members and friends. I 'm looking into legal action against these frauds. They want money to correct your own private information. Everyone has the right to keep their private information privite. Then they use phony names and claim you know people you never even met. This company should be shut down.